The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

by Mason Street In Uncategorized

Memory

Here are the artist’s images 

   first a landscape of

   the sea, a beach, cliffs

Then four pocket watches melting

   a table holds three 

   the orange one has ants

   one hangs from a bare branch

   one hangs over the table edge

   one covers a strange sea creature

   washed up from the surf.

But these are not my memories

Are these images supposed to evoke

    memories that represent the universal? 

For reasons unknown these clocks

    and dull landscape have appealed

    to some and the artist has become

    famous, a renowned surrealist.

The question is not what is memory

    but why do some get to determine

    what memory is and become

    recognized and celebrated

    while others remain unknown

    and nameless and their memories lost.