EKSTASIS
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EKSTASIS
Reviving the Christian Imagination

Welcome to Ekstasis

 

We publish poetry, essays & artist profiles that slant toward the triumphant and glorious aspects of life in Christ, framed through the arts and literature. You’re invited to explore the poetic texture of faith.



Longform Essays

We feature thoughtful essays where
art meets academia, and kingdom meets culture.

Home
The Novel and the Dictator
The Novel and the Dictator

Nadya Williams on the Man Who Criticized Stalin Yet Lived

A Bird in the Wound
A Bird in the Wound

Julia Bartel on Reading John Keats After Grad School

Writing to Stay Awake
Writing to Stay Awake

Ryan Snider on the Pastoral Art of Attention

Castle of the Soul
Castle of the Soul

Dana Delibovi on Teresa of Ávila in New York

Wings Smacking Windows
Wings Smacking Windows

Courtney Ellis on Caring in the Face of Helplessness

Playing in the Shadow of Death
Playing in the Shadow of Death

Katy Bowser Hutson on the Integral Spirit of Play

The Book Launch After the Funeral
The Book Launch After the Funeral

Karen Stiller on Love, Resilience, and Writing in the Dark

Praying in Greek Tragedy
Praying in Greek Tragedy

Carolyn Etzel Branch on the Allure & Art of Mysticism

A Scene Report from a Literary Gathering
A Scene Report from a Literary Gathering

Kevin LaTorre on Manifest Community

The Scars of the Crocodile Spirit
The Scars of the Crocodile Spirit

Amelia Buzzard on Life that Doesn’t Take an Eye for an Eye

Standing Bare Before Infinity
Standing Bare Before Infinity

Josh Nadeau on Ancient Cosmology & Sublimity

Bohemia in the Suburbs
Bohemia in the Suburbs

Katy Carl on the Task of Today’s Christian Artist

A Future After the War
A Future After the War

Lancia E. Smith on Cultivating the Culture of Tomorrow

Slippery Reality
Slippery Reality

Leah Regester on Psychosis and the Everlasting River

Ecstatic Hunger
Ecstatic Hunger

Sharon Rose Christner on Brothers & Heaven’s Many Breads

 

Ecstatic Articles

We feature articles that layer the stories of culture, theology, and technology in a way that presents true myth for a hypermodern age.

 

Featured Poetry

We feature poetry that speaks to the wide breadth of
the Christ-infused core of everyday experience.

Poetry
Thin Places
Thin Places

Bonita Jewel

Incineration
Incineration

Linnéa Strömberg

Christus, Objectum Amoris Mei
Christus, Objectum Amoris Mei

Spencer Barnhill

Psalm
Psalm

Krystle Eilen

Winter Sun
Winter Sun

Margo Swiss

Defy the Devil
Defy the Devil

Sarah Burke Cahalan

The Well
The Well

Matthew VanderKwaak

Anima Christi
Anima Christi

Christopher Snook

Blackhawk
Blackhawk

Casey Dwyer 

Ride to Glory
Ride to Glory

Sarah Tate

Architects
Architects

A.A. Gunther

The Magnolia Years
The Magnolia Years

Emma Galloway Stephens

Peaches on the Ceiling
Peaches on the Ceiling

Justin Whitmel Earley

Please wear me down to smooth, don’t stop midway
Please wear me down to smooth, don’t stop midway

Nathaniel Brown

Will
Will

Katie Hartsock

God is not a doctor
God is not a doctor

Vivien Drabkin

Encounter
Encounter

Mia Schilling Grogan

September 15th
September 15th

Rosa Gilbert

Pantoum Beginning with Sermon Notes
Pantoum Beginning with Sermon Notes

Tanya Runyan

Fox Song
Fox Song

Lily Antonella Price

Liminal
Liminal

Jacob Lee

Sonnet on a Look from the Lord
Sonnet on a Look from the Lord

Kelsey Peterson

Cup of Salvation
Cup of Salvation

Asher Silvey

The Death of the Student
The Death of the Student

Daniel Fitzpatrick

What Is There to Doubt?
What Is There to Doubt?

Colm O’Shea

Interviews & Profiles

 

Media & Features

“We live the given life, and not the planned.” — Wendell Berry 🫐
A new series of Advent Vignettes ✨ According to art historian Gilles Lambert, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio puts the scuro in chiaroscuro–a technique emphasizing the contrast between light and dark–by plunging everything into shadow
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." — Julian of Norwich 🍇
“The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.” — G.K. Chesterton 💭
Death after a master’s degree 🥀 There are so many examples of artists whose writing has, as Roxane Gay calls it, “written into the wound,” bringing to light the darkness we face in order to examine and make sense of it. As Christi
“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn.” — Ovid 🦌
Death of a poet 🌅 To the last it came, and there she slumps All shuttered doors and twitching nerves All half-torn sheets and blotted words Dark curtains drawn in quiet haste Bedside reaching; foggy hot delirium, To her desk of dreams and holy wo
Memoir of an unremarkable life 📚 If the only people deemed worthy of writing about their lives are the rich, powerful, or unique, we are continually reinforcing a status hierarchy that excludes most of us. In contrast, our ordinary, out-of-the-way