Saturday Night Special presents: Ekphrastic Garden

Vibrant painting of colorful flowers in bold vases against a turquoise background, showcasing expressive brushstrokes and lively colors.

Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic readings

Featuring:
Julie Martin
Usha Akella

Theme: Sirens
(scroll down for writing prompt)

Hosted By: Hollie Hardy

Saturday, April 25, 2026
8:00pm Central time

Online Event
Free Admission

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The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt

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Meeting ID: 879 8156 9214

Passcode: 615185

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Author Bios

Julie Martin – born on a fault line in Anchorage, Alaska and raised at the foot of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs – imprinted on the natural world. She has made her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, her poems invite the reader to join her in discovering all that is hidden in plain sight. Her poetry has been widely published in literary journals, and she frequently joins other poets in giving readings in Minnesota and beyond.

Learn more: juliemartinpoet.com

Follow in Instagram: @jumar002

Usha Akella has authored twelve books that include poetry and two musical dramas by publishers Sahitya Akademi, Spinifex Press, Mantis Editores Press, Kelsay Books, and more. She was a finalist for Austin’s Poet Laureate in 2025. Three of her books are translated into Spanish, Romanian (2026) and Macedonian. She holds a MSt. in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, UK. She was selected as a Creative Ambassador for the City of Austin in 2019 & 2015. Akella is the founder of Matwaala launched in 2015 to amplify diaspora South Asian poets. Matwaala is recognized for its significant work such as the first poetry film festival in 2025, and the collaboration with the Academy of American Poets’ poem-a-day program. Akella is also the host of the-pov.com, an interview website. She has participated in several international poetry festivals, and is published in approximately 150 literary journals and anthologies. Buy Ants and Lotus here: https://kelsaybooks.com/products/ants-and-lotus

Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!

LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!

Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, May 23, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.

Write-In Details/ Sign Up

May Writing Prompt: Ekphrastic Garden

Ekphrasis is writing that responds to a work of art—a painting, sculpture, photograph, dance, or film. A way of looking closely, then answering in language.

A garden can be part of that conversation. It’s a kind of living artwork—shaped by care, time, and whatever insists on growing.

This month, you have a few ways in: write an ekphrastic piece inspired by a garden (real or represented in art), write an ekphrasis about any subject (no garden required), or move more loosely and simply write toward nature—its textures, colors, cycles of change.

Follow what draws your attention. Let the piece be a response—something seen, remembered, or still growing in the mind.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

Choose a specific artwork (painting, photograph, sculpture, etc.) that includes a garden or natural element. Write to it, from it, or against it.
Visit a garden—public, private, remembered, imagined. Treat it as the artwork. What does it ask of you? What do you notice first, and what takes time?
Write from the perspective of something in the garden: soil, root, fence, weed, irrigation line, bee, rot. Let it speak.
Focus on human intervention: pruning, planting, neglect, control. Where does care end and domination begin?
Let the poem move between two spaces: the artwork and your own life. Where do they overlap, contradict, or echo each other?
Misread the “source” on purpose. Invent what isn’t there. Let the poem be wrong in a generative way.
Write about a garden that no longer exists, or one that hasn’t been made yet.
Use the structure of another form (letter, field notes, inventory, instructions, prayer, caption, museum placard).
Start with close observation—color, texture, sound—then let the poem widen into thought, memory, or question.
If you’re not drawn to ekphrasis, write a garden or nature piece that pays attention to growth, cycles, seasonality, or the tension between wild and tended.