In honor of National Poetry Month, we would like to share the poems that our talented members wrote for our inaugural Ekphrastic Writing Contest in February. The Arts Council of Carteret County’s Art From the Heart show offered a collection of artworks in different forms, and our members wrote poems inspired by many of the sculptures, paintings, and textile art on display. Carteret Writer Deborah Llewellyn was our contest winner with her poem “Butterfly Lessons,” which was inspired by artist Jill Harner’s “Great Spangled Fritillary.”

Butterfly Lessons

Deborah Llewellyn

Inspired by Jill Harner’s “Great Spangled Fritillary”

The Great Spangled Fritillary
In a spark of fire
Flutters over the garden gate
Enraptured
Long tubular flowers
Sweet nectars of summer
Captured
the flutter-by
To a paradise that beckons an easy feast
Joe-pye weed, trumpet vine, and
Honeysuckle that tastes like wine

Stay for a time with so much to dine
But take heed lest you feed
and copulate
In splendor for a season
Seduced
By a repast of debauchery
Left frantically searching,
Egg sack engorged
No host plant to lay your eggs
In my garden of delight
Bereft of delicate violets

 Minuet

Jessi Waugh

Inspired by Sarah Garner’s “Connection”

Coffee Dreams

Joyce Allan

Inspired by Diana Coldan’s “Mom’s Perk”

In a swirl of pastels, the clear glass pot with its tight metal band reminded me of my mother’s coffee pot. From the stained top of her white stove, she had percolated schemes and dreams and everyday life. Like the artist’s coffee, my mother’s morning brew was thick and black and strong enough to yank someone from a coma. A blue glow rose from beneath the pot, always providing color on an otherwise drab morning. And even the dregs of past disappointments could never prevent the dreams that bubbled up. Colorful dreams. Purple dreams. And orange. And yellow.

Coffee Dreams

Jennifer Heironimus

Inspired by Eileen Williams’s “Morning”

Our own little ponies treasured from afar.
Roaming the sand, calm and sure of home.
Walking the footsteps of ancestors with powerful hearts.
Quiet strength on easy feet.
Rolling sand banks beside colorful manes.
Gentle surf linking a calm sky.
Waving sea grass encircled with layers of light.
A fresh sunrise for a hopeful day.

Just Us Chickens

Emily Carter

Inspired by Anne Bell’s “Love Chickens”

Did you see her?
Clucking with svelte, shiny feathers.
Her perky breasts – barely cutlets.
Did she just have a pedi?
Her claws, shaped squoval.
Skinny thighs.
What’s to fry?
Girl was proud of that egg.
I remember my first one, all lop-sided and small.
How many of those would it take to make an omelet?
Oh, you crack me up.
Look at her pining for Big Daddy.
Like he’s going be loyal to her.
That was us once.
Do we sound bitter?
We’re realists, that’s what we are.
We’s chickens were first, before that egg even hatched.

Dog Collage

Melissa Kelley

Inspired by Karin Thompson’s “Yellow Lab-Blue Rug”

Layers of
Whites, oranges, blues
Some black
Overlapping colors
Papering my life
With
Morning nose nudges
Long wandering walks
Fingers in soft fur
At rest on the rug
Fibrous tendrils
Deep in my heart

Bright colors belie

Melissa Kelley

Inspired by Anne Bell’s “Mum’s The Word”

Bright colors belie
The wispy petals
Of each secret
Lively blooms
Bob on firm stems
As whispers breeze by
The pop of an eye
Puncturing the silent plea
Nothing here but fall colors

When she forgets my name and clutches to find her own

Jennifer Heironimus

Inspired by David Jaworski’s “Golden Walk”

When she forgets my name and clutches to find her own, I
show her this. A memory of wonder, of ebb and flow. A
simple moment excused from the busy, the stressed, the
insecure. A reminder of time away from dust bunnies and
grassy cleats. This is an enchanted memory. A sacred one
that reminds her of what once was. This sweet feeling is a
gift I can still bring when her confused heart aches. A
moment of just love.

We three friends

Deborah Llewellyn

Inspired by Susan Pelletier’s “Daydreaming and Chocolate Cake”

We three friends
In a funk
Dress to the nines
And meet up
With champagne and chocolate in mind
Spreading our stories like icing
A man winks, not enticing
All said and done
Layered in chocolate tranquility
And whipped cream daydreams
Wearing velvets and silk we scheme
Almost drunk
On possibility.

Clubbing

Veronica Krug

Inspired by Susan Pelletier’s “Clubbing”

Disinterest
“He’s smoking a cigarette.”
“She hasn’t touched her drink.”
The wisps of smoke, dark undertones of pastel chalk,
Reminiscent of Edgar Degas’, L’Absinthe’.
1876-2023
Dating has never been easy.

Soul Workings

Veronica Krug

Inspired by Michelle Johnson Fairchild’s “Soul Workings”

A torso
Before me in hues of the
Color wheel
Open windows beckon me
Peek inside.
A key where the heart
Should be.
A butterfly in
The belly.
Armed verse of a
Rib
Surrounded by teal.
Honeybee on a
Breast.
Across the torso’s
Chest,
“Wonder Woman”
Workings of a soul.

Atlas

Deborah Llewellyn

Inspired by Anita Francis’s “Atlas “

Poignant memories from far away
Form stars in a dreamy night
If I could grasp where I have been
I could hold the ultimate light

How Things Get Done

Jan B. Parker

Inspired by Debbie Hutcherson’s “Winged Grace”

Flights begun and never ended. . .
in dreams and schedules, at
work, even play—ideas wrap
me in Yes. . . Lets. . . Why
not? And the whys of
it slip to the side,
marsh grass swaying in the
come-up breeze, falling flat in
the gale, only to spring
up anew when the sun
returns, when the flight morphs
into done and we go
at it all over again—
Again, And again. And again.

Twist

Trish Sheppard

Inspired by Georgia Mason’s “Kaleidoscope”

the view from the rocket window
wasn’t what Clarice imagined
she thought black
dense black
not cad orange cyan Egyptian purple
interceptors of greyed-down white

wasn’t what she expected
this relocation
the demise of earth as she knew it

Clarice wondered if the scene could be rotated
broken into fragmented sections
or realigned in ordered design
a kaleidoscopic metaverse

Goldilocks some say
others say coruscant
either way a new twist

the captain’s voice interceded the silence
Keepler-452b on our final approach
prepare for landing
‘may the force be with you’

Fishing

Trish Sheppard

Inspired by Deborah Blazys’s “Fishing!”

the dory floats among the swells
waters of cerise and ultramarine slap against the gunnels
daybreak peaks yellow against a Vulcan Grey sky

the two occupants dressed in oilskin tend to tasks
one pulls a hand line
the other readies with a club
a razor toothed Cod prepares to fight the breach

women wait ashore
baskets in tow
to claim men and retrieve catch

a sailboat rocks across the waves
unaware of the Diamond Orange dory
and its fragile existence

God breathed life into dust

Autumn Ware

Inspired by George Walter Cole’s “Make Heaven Great Again”

In the hands of artists,
A god-like imagination,
a mystery that opens,
unveils,
each brush stroke, each symbol,
a breakthrough.
Flowers in a frame unfurl,
shattered to pieces.

In the hands of artists,
A god-like creativity,
A balm for the soul,
shines,
each stroke, each line,
a breakthrough,
a surreal show,
shattered to pieces.

With brush or pen, they unleash the divine,
transforming what was once dust.

Fishing

Trish Sheppard

Inspired by Deborah Blazys’s “Fishing!”

the dory floats among the swells
waters of cerise and ultramarine slap against the gunnels
daybreak peaks yellow against a Vulcan Grey sky

the two occupants dressed in oilskin tend to tasks
one pulls a hand line
the other readies with a club
a razor toothed Cod prepares to fight the breach

women wait ashore
baskets in tow
to claim men and retrieve catch

a sailboat rocks across the waves
unaware of the Diamond Orange dory
and its fragile existence

Residue

Sue Won

Inspired by Susan Pelletier’s “Daydreaming and Chocolate Cake”

Fading dreamers
like empty wine bottles.
High hopes, friskiness, hilarity
poured out, drained away.
Party dresses, chocolate-y dessert
can’t sate the disappointment
of being stood up
by what might have been.

Indelible

Sue Won

Inspired by Marguerite Chadwick-Juner’s “Reef Dance”

Souls
stolen, lost, discarded
become one with the sea
dance in fluid rhythms
of water music
haunting, alluring, eternal

Clouds Presage Weather

Susan Schmidt

Inspired by Korin Gagnon’s “Sunset DeLights”

Clouds tell how soon to shelter from impending storms.
Cumulus means puffy. Stratus means flat.
Cirrus means curly. Nimbus means rain.
Bounded by rivers and ocean, Beaufort is
an island surrounded by water-vapor clouds.

Sailing, I scold soot-black clouds to stay back until
we reach harbor. I monitor cirrus clouds to the south
over Shackleford-Should we keep kayaking or head to shore?

Thunder booms just north and lightning streaks down
dark anvils that mean bad storm coming, Cumulonimbus.

In time for sunset, I scurry to the dock—to catch
when clouds blossom orange, pink, purple, magenta.
No wind, flat water reflects the sky.