Jaime Mera

November 21, 2019

“The Metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa and My Grandpa” by Jaime MeraPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2019: Artist’s Choice

 

portrait of figure drawn in a mess of colorful lines

Image: “Brainyo” by Dana St. Mary. “The Metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa and My Grandpa” was written by Jaime Mera for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Jaime Mera

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF GREGOR SAMSA AND MY GRANDPA

Kafka, what were Gregor Samsa’s
unruhigen Träumen—
restless dreams?
I’ve dreamed of two, tiny snakes
with skin
shimmering silver
like a sardine.
Flying out of an oak,
they wrap around my wrists.
In another, I’ve dreamed
of my grandpa
whose torso split in two;
insides pink like a spiral ham.
Dreams dissolve
like a copy
of a copy of a copy.
Kafka, what were Gregor’s restless memories?
I remember my grandpa,
who died nine years ago,
carving the Christmas ham,
saying to my mom,
“You’re a nothing.”
He mistook
my sandalwood mala beads
for a subhar
and asked me if I enjoyed
killing people.
His brain processed information
like colors defying the color wheel—
red and blue makes green.
Last night, I dreamed
I was on an airplane with my cousin.
I no longer knew
his name
and I hid under the seat.
I awoke as myself.
Kafka, please transform me
into an ungeheures Ungeziefer—
tremendous vermin.
As Gregor awakes
from his restless dreams
he knows
yellow and blue makes green.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
October 2019, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Dana St. Mary: “This is a near perfect poem. I can read it multiple times and get more each time. Kafka helped form me as a young reader, so this poem spoke to me especially. It is simply horrific in the finest way. A good reflection of the madness in my picture.”

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September 26, 2019

“Misinterpreting a Collage During Trump’s Presidency” by Jaime MeraPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2019: Artist’s Choice

 

Photo collage of a bee near someone's eye

Image: “Thai Bees” by Kim Tedrow. “Misinterpreting a Collage During Trump’s Presidency” was written by Jaime Mera for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Jaime Mera

MISINTERPRETING A COLLAGE DURING TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY

I see a wasp. It’s Trump and Pence and every televangelist
that condemns lesbians. Sean Hannity’s anti-LGBT rhetoric,
like the hornet that crawls into the cracks of attics

in America’s heartland, riles up red-hatted white males
to swarm and antagonize by parading their straight pride.
The woman’s eye, sober-wide, is as steady as a steel beam.

Her face is ready for the sting. I look closer at the collage.
Something isn’t right—the broad waist. I discover
it’s a female elm sawfly. Now, it joins

with the woman. The yellow bands around its abdomen
matches the sash worn by Susan B. Anthony as she
marched in Kansas. Gold-colored drops glow with hope.

I’m not surprised that I got it wrong. I keep mixing things up,
seeing something that isn’t there. Last year, during dinner
at my parent’s house, we discussed the Religious Freedom Act.

I said, “Two women in love should be allowed to get a pizza together.”
My brother-in-law said, “We need to protect business owner’s rights.”
I said, “It’s discrimination against the gay community.”

He said, “The Bible says homosexuality is an abomination.”
After that, whenever my parents invited me over, I asked, “Will he
be there?” I skipped my nephew’s high school graduation.

In July, my schnauzer Bogie had to be put down. My parents
away on an Alaskan cruise, my sister busy at nursing school,
my brother-in-law—Brian—offered to come with me.

In the room, we held hands. Before the veterinarian inserted
the needle, Brian kissed the top of Bogie’s head.
It’s common to confuse the sawfly for another pest.

In the larvae stage, it looks similar to a slug. Later, it shifts
slowly into resembling a caterpillar. After pupation, people
presume it’s a wasp. The female’s ovipositor unfolds

like a jackknife and it saws into the stem of the plant to deposit
its eggs. It’s harmless to us—we make the error
of mistaking it for a stinger.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
August 2019, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Kim Tedrow: “This poem surprised me, from the title to the last line. A political poem usually doesn’t work for me unless, like this one, it is grounded in personal experience. The poet braids the historical, political, personal, and entomological into a narrative about how our current crisis infiltrates and alters our perceptions and relationships. The turn, in which the speakers’ relationship with the brother-in-law goes from near estrangement to emotional intimacy, is perfectly executed with the poet’s return to the sawfly. I am also impressed with the research the poet did to identify the insect in the collage. I had no idea that it is a female elm sawfly. The collage itself is ekphrastic, inspired by a poem about the Thai bees that drink human tears. Without knowing what a Thai bee looks like, I just chose something from a clip art book that looked like a bee.”

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April 30, 2019

“Living in Space After a Break-Up” by Jaime MeraPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019: Editor’s Choice

 

Floating by Betsy Mars

Image: “Floating” by Betsy Mars. “Living in Space After a Break-Up” was written by Jaime Mera for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Jaime Mera

LIVING IN SPACE AFTER A BREAK-UP

She decided to go to space
like deciding to buy Seventh
Generation dish soap at Target.
No phone calls or texts. No
checking her ex’s Facebook
page for his updated status.
She imagined time in space
would pass like an innertube
floating down the river. At first,
the darkness felt like a demon
swallowed and plunged her
into the cavern of its belly.
Later, the darkness swaddled
her like a spider’s silk spun
around its egg sac. She stopped
aching for his touch and that warm
rush that flushed through her
as he kissed her inner thigh.
She discovered that time
collapses and merges together
like a river.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
March 2019, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “As Betsy Mars mentioned last week, there was an especially wide range of interesting poems submitted for the challenge in March—and a near-record 395 submissions total. Jaime Mera grabbed me right away with the surprising humor in the first three lines before plunging into incredibly nuanced metaphor of at the heart of the poem. I love how the breakup and life in space, too, merge like that river, so that I almost forget which is a metaphor for which.”

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