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      December 19, 2015Map to the MoonMatthew Murrey

      Painting by Meghan Tutolo. “Map to the Moon” was written by Matthew Murrey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2015, and selected by Tutolo as the Artist’s Choice winner.
      That is the dream I had
      when I was stuck in that little town,
      wishfully watching planes in the sky,
      thumbing the atlas all the time.
       
      I dreamed I’d go to the purple
      city and find you. I believed
      that lights would turn on
      in the tall buildings to welcome me.
       
      And I did go,
      though I took an overnight train
      that rolled in after sunrise and took me
      past the stadium and brick warehouses
      and apartments with shades drawn.
       
      And there was a river
      and a bridge, and at night a yellow
      brilliance at the center which I wanted
      as a moth wants the light
      it flings itself at over and over.
      And you were there,
      which is why memory paints it
      so lovely, so purple, so speckled—
      even prettier than it really was—
       
      and tells a little lie about how young
      the moon was, when everybody
      knows it’s older than dirt
      and that love is the youngster.
      That was decades ago,
      but I remember falling
      like it was yesterday. So yes,
      the night and moon were young,
      and my heart waxed full.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the artist, Meghan Tutolo

      “It’s simple, but so honest. I like that. I like that it doesn’t have to try to reach me, true romance.”