Wisdom Teaches Without Speaking, Tim Timmerman
(assemblage w/ baseball, marbles, toy soldier, metal with gold leaf,
salvaged wood, pate de verre, dalle de verre)
DioramaThey told us to make dioramas, showcases of miniature re-creations, like they tell children to do.
I put real dirt and rocks along the bottom of the box, drowning the resistant pebbles in pools of glue, but it just didn’t breathe like the desert.
It didn’t burn with racing hiccups, or conjure creosote storms.
It didn’t sound or smell or remember the desert anymore.
It just sat there in the sunless coffin that had once brought new shoes.
___________________Ramona Itule-Patigian
Review by Zach Hamilton
Ramona Itule-Patigian gives small views into a moment, and then details the moment with distant forms, particulate matter and strange associations. The senses lead to these forms in an intriguing way and the poem begins to leave us clues as to what enigma it is describing.