Shopping Cart
    items

      ←

      March 22, 2018Cobalt BlueChristine Michel, Jeff Doleman

      Image: “Nine Lives” by Jeff Doleman. “Cobalt Blue” was written by Christine Michel for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, February 2018, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
      He comes galloping to a stop.
      Just three feet in front of me,
      wanting me to prove that I am,
      in fact, loyal as ever. So of course
      I pick him up, soft fur clinging
      to my jacket from the static of
      leather seats.
       
      They were a packaged set. Car
      and cat. The day I first parked
      the cobalt and baby blue beauty,
      he was huddled on my stoop, rain
      soaking matted fur to the bone.
      Sometimes you just can’t turn down
      what Fate has in store for you.
       
      And now, years later, he’s proud.
      Long tail fanning in the spring
      morning, eyes narrowed tracking
      something too small for me to see.
      So, I wipe my forehead with my
      sleeve and continue rubbing the
      wax in. I wonder if he listens for the
       
      purr of the engine, or watches for
      the blue that stands out within
      his world of grey.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the artist, Jeff Doleman

      “We were a dog family until my father found a kitten curled up in a flower bed outside his office. My parents have since fostered countless stray cats. I took this photograph during a walk with my father around his hometown in rural Oregon. Coincidentally, many poems responding to the image featured a paternal theme. Although the narrator of ‘Cobalt Blue’ could be anyone, I visualize my father, fixing his 1956 Ford Thunderbird while one of his cats lounges nearby. The poem uses simple, honest language to depict the mysterious, compassionate bonds that often form between people and other species. It stood out to me for its balanced perspective and its quiet sensitivity.”

      →