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      January 26, 2023Resolution of MemorySara Dallmayr

      Image: “Unsatisfied Externals” by J. Stormer. “Resolution of Memory” was written by Sara Dallmayr for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, December 2022, and selected as the Editor’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)
      Once upon a heart lived a heart
      within a muted room
      of yellows and greens.
      Once upon a love
      stopped matter, matter
      stops, heartbeat warm
      against the wall.
      Once upon a said I timed
      how often we spoke,
      then how often we didn’t.
      Grey is the presence
      of re-collection, of night,
      mise en abyme
      slide like feet down a sand dune.
      How you stood before the window
      and waxed your decency,
      watered the last plant alive,
      waited for tea to steep.
      How neatly remembering fits
      before it spills sideways
      into the squares of time.
      Once upon a door
      I waited for you
      to open, then close.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the editor, Megan O'Reilly

      “There is a great deal of ambiguity and mystery in J. Stormer’s etching; I felt it needed a poem that was not too narrative or structured, but more experimental and open to interpretation. Sara Dallmayr’s ‘Resolution of Memory’ fit the bill: I love the way it subverts convention without leaning too far into abstraction, the way it combines concepts like ‘waxed your decency’ with concrete images like ‘watered the last plant alive, waited for tea to steep.’ Like its inspiration, ‘Resolution of Memory’ is just enigmatic enough to be compelling.”

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