During the second week of Project Poet: Season Eight,?Emily Gorham, a junior from Fort Worth, Texas, won over the crowd of 165 students, faculty, and staff to take first place for the night.
Sixteen contestants in all performed their poems in response to the second challenge: to write a poem that takes a character from history, legend, or popular culture and puts that character in an unusual but revealing situation. Gorham’s winning entry was titled "Romeo on Love (I Bite my Thumb at You)" and won her immunity for next week’s challenge, which features a new task for Project Poet contestants.
For their next performance, contestants have to write an ekphrastic poem, where the subject is a painting, a sculpture, or other work of art. The works of art chosen for this challenge are seven iconic photographic images from the twentieth century.
In addition to Gorham, eleven other poets will tackle ekphrastic poems. They are Chelsey Becker, Ashley Clayton, Cole Clementson, Sandra Davis, Cat Mays, Alisha Nystrom, David Pluebell, Tori Rhein, Utah Robertson, Jennifer Scott, and Sarah Valentine.
The third Project Poet challenge will take place next Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 9:30 pm in the Black Box Theatre. For more information about Project Poet and to read the winning poems from each week, visit http://www.ozarks.edu/ProjectPoet.
Topics: Student Events