The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
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.
