Self-Portrait in a Landscape
After The Earth and the Sky by Patty Willis, oil on canvas board
Here, earth is a handful of houses, fields of farmland, a hilly horizon.
A place sanctified with sweat & honeysuckle & church bells.
Here, sky is adorned with sun-streaked rock-clouds and angel whispers.
A place that smells like maplewood burning & earthworms & hay.
Here, the single figure on the winding path is me. Of course, it’s me.
I’m sprinting away from here, away from my entire earth, toward a seductive city.
I’m running, but I’m owl-necking. My face behind me.
Oh! I’m turning to salt. I’m the salt of the earth, still searching for light.
Bethany Jarmul
Bethany Jarmul is an Appalachian writer and poet. She’s the author of two chapbooks, including a mini-memoir Take Me Home now available from Belle Point Press. Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming with ELJ Editions in 2025. Her work has been published in many magazines including Rattle, Brevity, Salamander, and One Art. Her writing was selected for Best Spiritual Literature 2023 and Best Small Fictions 2024, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, The Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and Wigleaf Top 50. Connect with her at bethanyjarmul.com or on social media: @BethanyJarmul.
Why Taylor Loved it:
First, not that I know everything but, I think the sign of a great ekphrastic work is when the poem can stand on its own, but the reader is still compelled to seek out the art. That was immediately the case for me with this piece. It’s so stunning in its image work and in the delicacy of the couplets. (But also, it's worth it to do the work and google the art because wow. It’s so wonderful how art can inform art!! Makes my heart do little flutters.)
I also appreciate how the ekphrastic nature brings out some amazingly strong image work. Sun streaked rock clouds? What is that and why can I picture it perfectly and why did I not think to write that?
And of course that ending. My goodness. The layer of both the biblical story of Lot's wife in tandem with the art is truly compelling. Complicating the narrative by having the speaker still searching for light as they turn to salt? Brilliant.
Interview:
Talk to me about the ekphrastic nature of this poem? What draws you to this artist (Patty Willis)?
Patty Willis (1879-1953) was an Appalachian artist from Jefferson County, West Virginia. I was also born and raised in West Virginia. I was looking for paintings of Appalachian landscapes when I came across her work and started to read more about her life. The more I read about her and the more I saw of her work, the more I felt a connection to her.
I particularly loved The Earth and the Sky which this poem is written after. Only after I'd written the poem did someone point out to me the owl-shaped trees. I had already used the word "owl-necking" without consciously being aware of the owls. I guess my subconscious was taking it all in!
This poem has, at least for me, a very powerful and stunning ending. How does the poem build to that moment?
There are really four things at play in this poem for me. First, the gorgeous piece of art which inspired it and allowed me to bring in some interesting sensory details and images. Second, I was trying to convey a true feeling or experience that I have had with growing up in West Virginia and having left to now live a near-city life. Third, the reference to the biblical story (Genesis 19) when Lot's wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. However, I've flipped that narrative here, because while Lot's wife looked back at the city, the speaker in this poem is moving toward the city but looking back toward the country scene. The fourth thing is the reference to Matthew 5:13-16 in regards to being the salt and light. I think the poem "works" because even if readers didn't know any of those four things—they could enjoy this poem.
Why did you choose Team Taylor?
Taylor said to send any religious iconography her way. I have two biblical references in this poem, so I knew Taylor was the one!