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October Instagram Challenge: #ScarecrowPoem

#ponw5Over the last few years Poetry Northwest has established a tradition of publishing theme based issues. Last spring saw The Science Issue. The year before saw TheCarolyn Kizer Issue. Influences, politics, and music were the focus of other themes. Our current issue is The Photography Issue. It’s our largest one ever, clocking in at over 70 pages, and features poems and photos juxtaposed against each other in a way that emphasizes an aspect shared between the two art forms: the act of creating a good poem or a good photo is essentially, to borrow a phrase from Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, “sculpting in time.” They distill singular moments into small sustained emotional eternities that impact readers and viewers over and over again. Their perfectly balanced elements strike upon something that simply wouldn’t exist if everything wasn’t placed just so.

 

Poetry Northwest + Instagramers Seattle + We Are Juxt

Poetry Northwest approached Instagramers Seattle and We Are Juxt to see how people would respond to poems visually and are working together for the rest of the year on a simple contest: monthly we post a poem and you have thirty days to respond to it visually. At the end of the month we pick our favorite snapshot and the winner receives a year long subscription to Poetry Northwest. 

 

October 2013 = #ScarecrowPoem

The game was
I would ascertain the broad beauty

of a particular landscape and he would stand 
still as a closed motel

within my field of vision
He need only assume a posture of flight—

Those lines come from Bill Carty’s poem “Scarecrow,” printed in full below, our October mobile photography challenge. What does it look like to you? We want to see it.

Challenge Rules

From October 1 – October 31 we challenge you to respond to “Scarecrow” how ever you see fit. Any element of the poem is up for interpretation. Here are the particulars:

Instagram:  #ScarecrowPoem

 

How it Works:

1.Post a photo to Instagram with   #ScarecrowPoem

2. Poetry Northwest (@poetrynw), Instagramers Seattle, & We Are Juxt will pick the winner who will receive a year long subscription (2 issues) to Poetry Northwest.

3. Submit as often as you want.

4. Photos must be posted to Instagram to  #ScarecrowPoem in order to be considered.

5. Photos must be posted between October 1 and October 31, 2013. Any photos posted after the close of the challenge will not be considered.

6. Poetry Northwest, Instagramers Seattle, & We Are Juxt reserve the right to remove any photo deemed inappropriate for any reason.

 

Scarecrow
by BILL CARTY

The game was
I would ascertain the broad beauty

of a particular landscape and he would stand
still as a closed motel

within my field of vision
He need only assume a posture of flight—

crows wouldn’t stick around
for the exception

He told me any friend too familiar
would grow useless

Early dismissal: the children
are practically cartwheeling out of their flesh.

 

“Scarecrow” appears in our Spring/Summer 2013 Issue. Subscribe today!