Embedded Files
Art + poetry can be magical; learn more about the phenomenon of ekphrasis here or here. A fun word, is it not?! I was fortunate to collaborate with a few artists for River City Poetry's covid-era Wichita Broadsides Project (a nice way to spend a pandemic, building community via technology). Thanks to Harvester Arts and Wichita Arts Council for their support. And I was excited to see Kansas Authors Club add this category in 2025 to their contests.
Art + poetry can be magical; learn more about the phenomenon of ekphrasis here or here. A fun word, is it not?! I was fortunate to collaborate with a few artists for River City Poetry's covid-era Wichita Broadsides Project (a nice way to spend a pandemic, building community via technology). Thanks to Harvester Arts and Wichita Arts Council for their support. And I was excited to see Kansas Authors Club add this category in 2025 to their contests.
Artsy selfie at Vertigo.
Inspired by: Charles Baughman, "Air Trails" (Skyscapes) mixed media, 2021; posted with Artist's permission.
MEMENTO VOLARE
go ahead and let the south breeze
lull you into a state of calm
a perfect blue sky can be
the only thing on your mind
this accidental meditation
is exactly what you need
and so is the sudden rush of wings
flying you back into yourself
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, 1st Place, 2025 Kansas Authors Club Ekphrastic poetry award. Thanks to Leona Sevick for judging the 2025 Ekphrastic category, and to Janice Northerns for managing the entire KAC poetry contest in both 2024 and 2025!
SAFE AS HOUSES
“Safe as houses” must be an expression
originating from another planet
without climate change, light pollution,
habitat loss, or mass narcissism
where tornadoes don’t lift structures as if by a cord,
where mudslides can’t pull a shed as if along a track,
where fires are always safely contained and purposeful,
where the perfect tool is just at hand,
where sharp-clawed creatures don’t hide in the attic,
where nobody is ready to pounce
or wind you up
or push you down
and you can spend
an evening in peace,
relishing in abundance.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, 3rd Place, 2025 KAC Ekphrastic poetry award.
Inspired by Barbara Waterman-Peters, "Wind Up Toy," from Inscape Magazine's 2025 issue, and posted with Artist's permission.
Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — October
(Also selected for River City Poetry Fall 2020 issue)
CLOUD COMINGLING
Does a bird ever say,
"I'm too tired to fly today"
or does her love just
pick her up, sweep
her into the sky?
—Julie Ann Baker Brin
Wichita Broadside Project
October, 2020 collaboration
with artist Leslie Williams
Printable / full-size (8.5 x 11 in.) broadside:
https://rivercitypoetry.org/cloud-comingling-oct-wbp-2020/
FLOURISHING
My inner teacher is babbling
again: "notice form, notice
color" ... "notice you're about
to run into that wall."
Of course, there are always
other voices attempting to
prevent me from hurting
myself but in the end
quite likely only keeping
my soul from growing.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin
Wichita Broadside Project collaboration with artist Leslie Williams
Printable / full-size (8.5 x 11 in.) broadside:
https://rivercitypoetry.org/flourishing-oct-wbp-2020/
Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — October
Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — April
[WRITER'S BLOCK HAIKU]
Words will come again
just like the petals of spring
they have their season
—Julie Ann Baker Brin
Wichita Broadside Project
April, 2020 collaboration
with artist Skyler Lovelace
Printable / full-size (8.5 x 11 in.) broadside:
https://rivercitypoetry.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/sljb_typewriter_pr-1.pdf
BLIND CONTOUR
Her face folds
into her body,
a glint in the eye
by the knee,
the chair tangled
up in her hair.
Scribble of life,
of looking, learning,
growing; she’s alive
on my sketchpad,
wiggling, knowing
she is marked.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin
Wichita Broadside Project collaboration with artist Honeybee O'Gee.
Printable / full-size (8.5 x 11 in.) broadside:
https://rivercitypoetry.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/blind-contour.pdf
Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — May
"All Time Exists at Once" — Julie Ann Baker Brin, Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — June, collaboration with artist Brittany Schaar
Printable PDF here: https://rivercitypoetry.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/june-all-time-exists-at-once.pdf
Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — August, collaboration with artist Martha Wherry
https://rivercitypoetry.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/wherry_brin_final_for_submittable.pdf
ICT OUTBOUND
From this altitude, the earth:
a cross-section of my body;
every river a vein,
every stream a capillary,
every plot of land a muscle,
or maybe fat.
And I can believe
that a continent could
fit right up next to another,
just like my elbow
loves the curve of my waist
when I stand straight.
— Julie Ann Baker Brin
Previous version as included in Z Publishing’s 2018
Kansas's Best Emerging Poets: An Anthology
Revived in Wichita Broadside Project 2020 — August
Thanks to the artists who collaborated with me and/or inspired me. I really, really, really, really (if you'll permit me to be super poetic about it) enjoyed these projects. If you're an artist who would like to collaborate on future such projects email juliebrin at gmail dot com or find me on social media by searching for my full name ... I think I'm the only Julie Ann Baker Brin so far? (P.S. include some art pics!)
Thanks to the artists who collaborated with me and/or inspired me. I really, really, really, really (if you'll permit me to be super poetic about it) enjoyed these projects. If you're an artist who would like to collaborate on future such projects email juliebrin at gmail dot com or find me on social media by searching for my full name ... I think I'm the only Julie Ann Baker Brin so far? (P.S. include some art pics!)
See the page menu at the top for more. And thanks for visiting my portfolio site! —Julie Ann Baker Brin
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