“Synapses and Stardust” by Brandy Norrbom

April 30, 2024Posted by

Alignment II by John Paul Caponigro, surreal photograph of boulders over a sand dune

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. (PDF / JPG)

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Brandy Norrbom

SYNAPSES AND STARDUST

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
March 2024, Editor’s Choice

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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.”

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