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      April 25, 2019Trompe L’oeilJuliet Latham

      Image: “Floating” by Betsy Mars. “Trompe L’oeil” was written by Juliet Latham for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
      What if the retina
      jolted by a light
      sent its obligatory signal
       
      to the brain and formed
      a woman
      and that woman is me
       
      a floater
      which my doctor tells me
      can be very normal
       
      just a fiber clump
      in the vitreous gel
      that inhabits the eye
       
      I learned early
      this trick
      of suspension
       
      how to dart away
      from any gaze
      held too long
       
      hover
      just until
      it is unclear
       
      if what you watch
      is the world you have left
      or a tunnel you might enter
       
      the things an eye
      can see from this height
      my mother’s face
       
      hiding poison
      only meant
      for me
       
      the lover on Chestnut
      all charm in light
      bullets by dark
       
      business trip, an elevator,
      strange man’s mouth
      doors sealed hard
       
      too many floaters
      and a flash of light
      is an emergency
       
      my doctor says
      I’m high risk
      for retinal detachment
       
      quizzes me on symptoms
      to see if I’m listening
      I tell her acute episodes
       
      of imaginative replacement
      floating, looking out
      when I should be looking in
       
      the presence of any magic
      holding up the body
      in lieu of trust
       
      perhaps she’s warning me
      about blindness because
      she doesn’t know
       
      I’m floating here
      beyond her pencil of light
      asking if this eye
       
      is all there is to see.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the artist, Betsy Mars

      “This was a unique opportunity to be on the other side of the selection process, and I am hereby swearing to never again second-guess anyone’s choice. The range of subject matter, style, and length was breathtaking. A gutsy, succinct very short poem vs. a heartfelt and well-written three-pager. Some touched on the futuristic aspects of the image, some took the vibe and went with it in a more indirect manner. It may have been the most arduous work I have ever done outside of childbirth. I admired all, but in the end chose this because I love the extended metaphor and the way that the poet blurred the line between the literal and the symbolic. The sense of alienation and detachment was so palpable in the writing. I have felt that kind of out-of-body experience when looking at my own life, and I think the poem aligns so well with the emotions conjured by the image. Plus, I am mildly at risk for retinal detachment.”

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