Image: “Unsatisfied Externals” by J. Stormer. “Resolution of Memory” was written by Sara Dallmayr for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, December 2022, and selected as the Editor’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)

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Sara Dallmayr

RESOLUTION OF MEMORY

Once upon a heart lived a heartwithin a muted roomof yellows and greens.Once upon a lovestopped matter, matterstops, heartbeat warmagainst the wall.Once upon a said I timed how often we spoke,then how often we didn’t.Grey is the presence of re-collection, of night,mise en abyme slide like feet down a sand dune.How you stood before the windowand waxed your decency,watered the last plant alive,waited for tea to steep.How neatly remembering fitsbefore it spills sidewaysinto the squares of time.Once upon a doorI waited for you to open, then close.—from Ekphrastic Challenge
December 2022, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Megan O’Reilly: “There is a great deal of ambiguity and mystery in J. Stormer’s etching; I felt it needed a poem that was not too narrative or structured, but more experimental and open to interpretation. Sara Dallmayr’s ‘Resolution of Memory’ fit the bill: I love the way it subverts convention without leaning too far into abstraction, the way it combines concepts like ‘waxed your decency’ with concrete images like ‘watered the last plant alive, waited for tea to steep.’ Like its inspiration, ‘Resolution of Memory’ is just enigmatic enough to be compelling.”

Related* “The Room as We See It” by Andrew Payton * “The Widower” by Nick Bertelson * “Fibers” by Ashley Caspermeyer