Terra in Flux: An Ekphrastic Collaboration by Mark Danowsky and John Singletary - Title

Mark Danowsky and John Singletary
TERRA IN FLUX: An Ekphrastic Collaboration

The word ekphrasis comes from the Greek for the description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical exercise, often used in the adjectival form ekphrastic. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. In ancient times, it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ἐκ ek and φράσις phrásis, ‘out’ and ‘speak’ respectively, and the verb ἐκφράζειν ekphrázein, “to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name”.

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Terra in Flux

The bathroom mirror breaks my face
no, my face breaks the mirror

nose, a Picasso—

all comes down to energy

*

In Tai Chi, you create
an imaginary ball
then pass, smooth
smooth, smooth
sculptor at the wheel
passing it, passing it
back to yourself

*

fluid motion
blurs the line
we choose to walk against

*

You touch yourself touchingTerra in Flux: An Ekphrastic Collaboration by Mark Danowsky and John Singletary - 2
the face of love
closeness by another name
proximity one boon companion

Tell me when it is you feel
& I’ll go cold as fate
comet without gamble
trailing spectre-like
your unholy geist

*

The Rockefeller Center
zamboni operator down with flu
still can smooth & smooth

*

Faces of a masquerade
play at Janus
when lean Judas

*

free at least
sprawled
vagrant on the rocks

*

Mother of God
Sister of Heartbreak
Daughter of ChaosTerra in Flux: An Ekphrastic Collaboration by Mark Danowsky and John Singletary - 3

*

the beauty line
ties humanity to grace
by way of athleticism—
what it means to be perfect

*

ouroboros

the difference
between naked & nude—

*

dancing

a spectrum
that begins in innocence
& ends in BabylonTerra in Flux: An Ekphrastic Collaboration by Mark Danowsky and John Singletary - 4

*

There is nothing inherently wrong with Cypress trees.
Or apocryphal texts.

The believer tells you it’s a mistake not to believe.
The nonbeliever can’t tell you anything for sure.

I fall asleep & dream about a ball of light
passed from generation to generation.

I wake & stretch—

In Tai Chi, you take an open stance. Take an imaginary ball in your hands.
Circle the sphere. It can be crystal. You can call it an orb. You cannot drop this ball.

*

We know pareidolia—seeing
faces in things. We make
intentional masks
some just so we can walk around
being another, feeling safe.

*

Forget the self, sun
in Elizabethan world view
the great chain of being
we inhabit the middle
above all common earthly things
below the heavens, angels, divinity


Mark Danowsky is author of the poetry collection ​As Falls Trees ​(NightBallet Press, 2018). His poems have appeared in Gargoyle, Kestrel, North Dakota Quarterly, and elsewhere. He’s managing editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal​.

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John Singletary Headshot. Photo credit: Stephen PerloffJohn Singletary is a photographer and multimedia artist based in Philadelphia, PA. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from The University of the Arts. His work has been collected by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Center for Fine Art Photography as well as other institutional and private collections. He has exhibited at the LG Tripp Gallery, The Pennsylvania State Museum, The James Oliver Gallery, Sol Mednick and The Delaware Contemporary Museum. He is also a contributing writer for The Photo Review Journal.​ Photo credit: Stephen Perloff.

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