Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2020: Artist’s Choice
Image: “The Old Paper Mill” by Denise Sedor. “Eulogy” was written by Brenda-Lee Ranta for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2020, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
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EULOGY
Cataracts in my mind
have shielded me from
recalling clearly the hours
my old metal lunch pail
stuffed with soggy bread
wrapped in waxed paper,
with stained fingers that
brought sustenance to my
dry mouth, gnarled leather
a million breaths, countless
heartbeats are still wafting up
through your smoke stacks
I cannot recall the colour of
the skies beyond the rooftop
where I sold my life for a buck
my crooked bones remember
every moment I gave to you;
my mind blurred by your image.
—from Ekphrastic Challenge
June 2020, Artist’s Choice
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Comment from the artist, Denise Sedor: “I picked ‘Eulogy’ as the poem to go with my painting because I felt it continued the narrative of life in an old mill. It perfectly captured the emotion of my painting by bringing to life the past inhabitants behind the worn-out, old abandoned walls of the the building of my image. It was simple, powerful, and beautifully written.”
