From Up There, 2023, watercolor and oil on canvas by Warner Westbury
“Memory Suspended”
- by Camryn Dunlap
As I am tossed in every direction,
As life sends one wave after the next
This is what I remember.
This is what I long for.
This moment is frozen.
A piece of time bobbing forth from the depths of my mind
So small, so insignificant,
but then again, it is those moments we miss the most
running with a friend,
jumping on a trampoline,
the sounds of bare feet hitting the ground and birds chirping
I miss the feeling of the sun on my skin,
and the smell of carefree play.
These moments of seemingly endless contentment
are suspended in time,
like corks on the surface,
but washed away with every wave.
Explanation:
The painting I chose to write my ekphrastic poem about is called, “From Up There” by Warner Westbury, a college of Charleston Student. I chose this painting because it gave me a feeling that it wasn’t just a picture of a girl on a swing, but a childhood memory. The reason I felt this way about the painting was because of the artist’s use of watercolor for the background and oil paints for the image of the swing set and child. For me, memories of childhood are often not entirely clear, but flashes of moments and events. For this reason, I chose to focus on the idea of childhood memories and how we remember them as we grow up. I conveyed how I felt about memories from childhood, and how I often long for the simplicity and carelessness of childhood. I focused more on the art than the artist. I chose to relate waves to memory and how it can be recalled and washed away quickly, but also be a bit murky. I chose this comparison based on the use of watercolor as the background in the painting, but the moment of the girl on the swing is clear. I chose the location of my line breaks for emphasis on certain words and phrases, specifically the ones detailing the smells, sounds, and feeling of memory.