Shopping Cart
    items

      ←

      November 21, 2024In the ClearingDevon Balwit

      Zaubererturm by Jennifer S. Lange, abstract illustration of a dark gray tower in the woods

      Image: “Zaubererturm” by Jennifer S. Lange. “In the Clearing” was written by Devon Balwit for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2024, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

      No longer youthful, my skin crepes
      walls, windows, and doors. Cracked,
      I go mossy. The weather enters. Memories
      wheel and alight in flocks. Passersby assume
      I am lonely. I am anything
      but. In the gnarled shadows, hosts
      clamor: youngest sons prepare
      for battle; widows sniff for mushrooms.
      What some call grey, I call mother
      of pearl—the full moon polishing the sky.
      That screech is an owl or a board pried
      from a window. Already, the kindling
      catches as the curious lean in.
      I make a space for story.
       

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the artist, Jennifer S. Lange

      “I chose the poem ‘In the Clearing’ because, while it is like some other poems entered that use the tower as a person, this one spoke in first person and spoke well, seeing things from a tower’s perspective. I particularly liked the lines about the tower not being alone despite people assuming it to be, and the definition of grey being really mother of pearl—the ability to differ a great mass of small detail is a skill people seem to be losing, and I am glad about any reminder to look more closely. The most delightful however I found the last line, ‘I make a space for story,’ which to me as an illustrator is the best thing anybody can say about my images—weave a story, tell yourself what’s going on, interpret, play with it, it’s yours now.”

      →

      Related