In 2022, Liquid Amber Press conducted a poetry competition which asked entrants to respond to a number of prompts relating to the theme of ‘encounter’. The long-listed poems were subsequently published in Poetry of Encounter: The Liquid Amber Prize Anthology, edited by Anne M. Carson and Rose Lucas.

First Prize was awarded to Reneé Pettitt-Shipp for her evocative poem, Nowanup, which helps us understand the long engagement of First Nations people with their Country. Here is a brief extract from Nowanup:

. . . we are here where the plain spreads before us with nothing but life layered upon life as far as the eye can see.

One of the visual prompts for the competition was the painting Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (1657-59) by the Dutch master, Johannes Vermeer. The image showed a young woman by a window with drapery framing the right-hand side of the painting and fruit on a table in the foreground. Above the girl’s shoulder was a rather large area of blank wall.

On reading about the painting, I was intrigued to learn that, in 2017, experts discovered the painting had been altered after the painter’s death. The blank space on the wall had originally been occupied by a sizable, framed painting of Cupid.

Between 2018 and 2021, painstaking work was carried out to remove the paint which had been placed over the image of Cupid. As a result, the artwork is now exhibited in Dresden in its intended form. You can see both versions of the painting here.

Given this background, I wanted to write a poem that referenced the painting directly, rather than using it as a starting point to address the theme of ‘encounter’ more broadly. This is my poem which was long-listed for the competition and included in the Anthology:

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, by Johannes Vermeer

morning light

the fall of the drapes
the fall of her hair

open window
Cupid’s arrow
has found its mark

a ripe peach

the fruit of summer
she reads every word
that he wrote

the fruit of summer
on a crumpled tablecloth

her dress drawn tight

a ripe peach
sliced in two

her eyes linger
again, she reads every word
that he wrote

the fall of the drapes
the fall of her hair

a ripe peach
sliced in two

This poem is written in the form of a haiku shuffle, which I have described on earlier occasions. In essence, a haiku shuffle uses the elements of haiku to create a poem with a contemporary feel.

Poetry of Encounter is a strong collection of poems, beautifully produced and very enjoyable to read. I was most pleased to have a haiku shuffle appear with the other poems in the anthology.

Poetry of Encounter: The Liquid Amber Prize Anthology can be purchased from Liquid Amber Press either as a soft cover book or as a downloadable PDF.