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      June 29, 2021What It Is Is What It Is Not and What It Is Not Is What It IsKaran Kapoor

      Image: “Contradictions of Being” by Neena Sethia. “What It Is Is What It Is Not and What It Is Not Is What It Is” was written by Karan Kapoor for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2021, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
      A picture of God is not God
      the way a painting of water is not wet.
      An image of the sun is not hot
       
      and all those poems about poems
      are just something else. Leaves, alive
      or autumnal, time alone dictates.
       
      Disembodied lips of a corpse
      cast a shadow of a blackbird
      with an impressive bill—
       
      boldly, the shadow sings of its flaw
      of colorlessness. Remember, your flaws
      are yours, you are not your flaws.
       
      A face behind a face makes the one
      in front a mask. Affected love is not love.
      Affected harshness is still harsh.
       
      A woman with waves for hair
      does not necessarily carry
      an ocean inside her
       
      head. Notice she begins
      only as a bubble
      of thought. Everything blue
       
      was once green. A star is not a star
      but its memory, its history. Looking back
      isn’t wanting. Memory of love is not
       
      love. Desire to help isn’t helping.
      The winged-man also falls. The horse
      in my head is not the horse
       
      in your head. A dancing man
      isn’t evidence for music. The eye you look
      into is always looking right back.
       
      A flying white bird is not always a sign
      of freedom. Your face and flesh
      is not your self. All that is lost
       
      is somewhere found.

      from Ekphrastic Challenge

      Comment from the Editor, Timothy Green

      “In his note that came with the entry, Karan described this poem as ‘a string of aphorisms, though born from the same impulse as a poem. And in my head, all these aphorisms are waving a flag that is Neena’s painting.’ I can’t put it any better than that. The poem explores the central theme of the painting, but verbally, creating a deep dialogue between the two forms of art. Each line is memorable and surprising, and their accumulating mystery invites multiple readings—and further explorations of the painting.”

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