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      October 29, 2024Reverie Work AheadZeid

      Image: “Have you ever eaten breakfast here before?” by Barbara Gordon. “Reverie Work Ahead” was written by Zeid for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2024, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
      two traffic barrels wonder if they should crack the street / split the asphalt like an egg / see what spills out. or if they should imagine themselves as spiderwebs / snaring a city’s descending ashes / clung tightly to circular frames. one barrel whispers to the other / the reply is a stuttered hymn / a plastic rasp. they are the pulse of rust and rain / flickering stripes / smoke-glint on iron / ghosts of a steely and dust-bitten world. they lean closer / barricade lights nearly touching / soft pulses under blue sky. they whisper of silver platters and things they cannot eat / oil-slick dreams sliding between orange bands. a yellow caution tape snake slithers by / coiling in a wind’s clutch / curling toward and away from the barrels. they wait for the night crew / who’ll roll them back to their stations / with street tremors below weighted bases. for now / they press into each other’s shadows / the city’s hum beyond the frame / the asphalt cooling as the day exhales. still / the question hovers like fog above street / should they crack the ground beneath them / or let it hold / fixed / silent / as / fault / or as choice?
       

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the series editor, Megan O'Reilly

      “This image, on its own, is a poem, the way the artist breathes humanity into commonplace objects and winks deftly at a more complex narrative. ‘Reverie Work Ahead’ puts words to that narrative, imagining the untold story of two traffic barrels. It takes a skilled writer to achieve this without veering into absurdity, and Zeid pulls it off impressively. Inspired phrases like ‘ghosts of a steely and dust-bitten world’ and ‘coiling in a wind’s clutch’ captivate and give dimension to the world the poet creates. The last line, in the form of a question, feels profound and consequential, and reminds the reader that great poets and artists can create the deepest meaning out of the most ordinary subjects.”

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