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      April 30, 2024Synapses and StardustBrandy Norrbom

      Image: “Alignment II” by John Paul Caponigro. “Synapses and Stardust” was written by Brandy Norrbom for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2024, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
      Six times you were cosmic dust in the universe
      But this time you called me sanctuary running
      Lines through the sand like bio-electricity the
      Spaces between us humming like synapses you
      Set us apart like monoliths in the desert sky all
      Scratching shadows where the dark in me is
      Pulling every state of was or being into the
      Undertow of this magnetic rift and yes it’s
      Polarized but so are the tides and the moon
      Making us as orbital as all that other matter
      Can we fold into and around each other a
      Tesseract through time where every instance
      Of you finds every instance of me?

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the series editor, Megan O'Reilly

      “I love the idea of the ‘spaces between us humming like synapses,’ and the way one can almost sense that kind of electricity between the objects in this image. The thoughtful lack of punctuation makes the poem flow as if it’s all being said in one breath, which reflects the ‘suspended in space and time’ feeling of the artwork. The last two lines are beautiful and moving, and take the reader by surprise with their candid vulnerability. The ending seems to hang in the air after the poem is over, again perfectly mirroring the scene in the image.”