Shopping Cart
    items

      ←

      April 29, 2025Thomas MixonOpposing Easels

      Our hearts were formed before our bones
      supported any kind of weight.
      I listen to the metronome
       
      of the daily news, on my phone
      and get depressed, and can’t create.
      Our hearts were formed before our bones
       
      persuaded us that they alone
      could measure our artistic fate.
      I listen to the metronome
       
      that they pound out as I walk home
      to empty canvases I hate.
      Our hearts were formed before our bones,
       
      but what else do I really know
      about myself? I try to paint.
      I listen to the metronome
       
      of dusk against my brush’s groans.
      The palette’s dry. It’s getting late.
      Our hearts were formed before our bones.
      I listen to the metronome.
       
      Image: “Siblings Under the Skin” by Elizabeth Eve King. “Opposing Easels” was written by Thomas Mixon for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2025, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the series editor, Megan O’Reilly

      “One of the elements of Elizabeth Eve King’s artwork that resonates most strongly is the illusionary separation of life and death–that line from the famous 18th century epitaph ringing in my head: ‘As I am now, so you must be.’ The living people in the image are holding death at arm’s length, literally, and yet, at our core, we know how narrow the gap between the two subjects can be. I love the way Mixon’s ‘Opposing Easels’ captures the passage of time with repeated imagery of a metronome, a perfect way to symbolize that life is both relentless (‘the daily news on my phone’) and beautiful (‘dusk against my brush’s groans’). The poet’s refrain about our hearts being formed before our bones hints at a belief that art is our primary purpose, and the speaker’s sense of urgency to fully realize this before time runs out is powerful and inspiring.”

      →

      Related