“Portrait of My Father as the Count of Monte Cristo” by Joanna PrestonPosted by Rattle
Image: “Desperado” by G.J. Gillespie. “Portrait of my father as the Count of Monte Christo” was written by Joanna Preston for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, January 2024, and selected as the Editor’s Choice. (PDF / JPG)
__________
Joanna Preston
PORTRAIT OF MY FATHER AS THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Comment from the series editor, Megan O’Reilly: “There is something part human, part machine, and part something else–something indefinable–in G.J. Gillespie’s bold, abstract image, and Joanna Preston’s poem reflects this combination in the most profound and brilliant way I can imagine. Though the subject matter is excruciatingly human, the poet uses repetition, metaphor, and a detached voice to emphasize the clinical, almost robotic nature of what her father is enduring. The result is a poem so weighty and haunting, I needed to remind myself to breathe after reading the last line. Coupled with the captivating image that inspired it, ‘Portrait of my father as the Count of Monte Christo’ will reverberate in my mind for a long time.”
Ekphrastic Challenge, January 2017: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Days in San Francisco #1, 1984” by Harry Wilson. “An Accounting” was written by Joanna Preston for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, January 2017, and selected by Timothy Green as the Editor’s Choice winner. (PDF / JPG)
Comment from the editor on this selection: “Preston has crafted a poem full of great images and great music, and at the end of the day I think that’s all poetry really wants. While many other poets had similar reactions to Wilson’s photograph—maybe it’s the year, too; 1984 is now 33 years gone—this was the poem that best captured the emotion of these fleeting days.”