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      June 24, 2022CamouflageDanelle Rivas, Katie Kemple

      Image: “El Camino de Esmeralda” by Danelle Rivas. “Camouflage” was written by Katie Kemple for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2022, and selected as the Artist’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)
      The images couldn’t
      tell if they started inside
      her head,
       
      or if they
      existed because she
      could perceive them.
       
      The hand of it all
      kept painting to keep
      them in frame.
       
      If uterus,
      then flag and Ferris
      wheel. If octopus,
      then keytar
      and gargoyle.
      If hummingbird
          cat
      whisker
      vase.
       
      If you feed an image
      a dumpling,
       
      your stomach
      will twist into
      a blue lizard.
      It’s so cyclical.
       
      My effigy enters—
       
      swirls
      leaves,
      and exits out
      the window
      with chopsticks.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the artist, Danelle Rivas

      “Although many of the poems were very evocative, I was was particularly drawn to ‘Camouflage’ because, like the painting, it’s a kaleidoscope, a tumult of words like the articles within the dress. I like the way the words of the objects feel tossed in the poem and the line ‘the hand of it all, kept painting to keep them in frame’ is perfect as it describes the elements hemmed in within the magic frock. There is a true understanding of the whirl of images captured in this poem and the last lines, my effigy enters—swirls leaves, and exits out the window with chopsticks is everything.”

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