Kelly Cressio-Moeller, The Memory of Water, 2024
Acrylic on basswood panel, 24 x 24 inches
If you don’t believe me, sit by yourself
in a dark room and stare into a glass of water.
You’ll find her there, forgotten goddess
of the mirror image. Believed to be drowned
under the weight of Narcissus’s stare,
form of foam and froth in his pool.
But she is the one he really sees, she imitates
his mannerisms, tucks his hair behind her ear
and pulls his limbs from land
to water and back again. A hand reaching
into his body, pulling him into hers.
There are thousands of maggots
on the surface of the water. Narcissus
hears the hum and thinks it is the sound
of his own singing. Do you hear me now, Catropto?
I am humming too. You must be real.
It can’t be me, eyes always leaking
with blood, that I see whenever I catch
my reflection like a fly out of the air.