effigy

adelphos

weddings

CHAPEL NEAR CAESAR'S HEAD, UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

CAMBRIDGE, OHIO

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE

CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA - I

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA - II

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA - III

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA - IV

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS - I

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS - II

theme thursday: "EGO"

click the thumb to see the photo.
click this for explanation...

all right, all right.
so photographically i have not been producing real works of art lately. it's all been about interpretation and about making the deadline (and not just the deadline for theme thursdays and photofridays).

i am lame. i am submitting a photo i took, not for this occasion, but for/of some members of my family. (and yes, this IS them being normal.)

but...
since this week's topic WAS my suggestion in the first place, i felt obligated to at least put SOMETHING up that fit the theme, even if it doesn't have masterpiece written all over it. after all, a little humbling now and then is good for my ego, eh?

speaking of masterpieces...i guess you can look at it either way.
not too long ago i took my camera to the shedd aquarium/oceanarium in chicago and was clicking away at the wonders INside the tanks. i was there on a crowded day and was starting to get frustrated at the people underfoot and obscuring shots. all the sudden, it hit me upside the head -- JUST like a beluga whale smacking into a minnow -- this thought:

how about that. revelation. ding-ding-ding!
the rest of the day it was all i could do to pull my eyes (and camera) away from the oxygen-breathing bipeds.

___________________________________
:: for more about Theme Thursday ::

non-exempt

grief -- it is the killing joy
and no one is exempt

it is the only stuff you want to damn
it really is, because
because it comes at all
because it comes
in phone calls at ungodly hours
in subways on the back
of someone's newspaper
while you sit in quiet shock
it comes like anger, treasonous
surprizing jolts
like job-skin suits
like weak ring prongs
like unexpected stubs
like highway robbery
like dying
and no one is exempt

it rains, it pours
vague or distinct
it locks the doors
until you think
there's nothing left of you
to answer
or until
you forget the question

and lest you tense up
lest you try
to buck up and be brave
lest you brace yourself and say
you are a superhero, fiberglass
or other self-sufficed
things start to fall
things start to break
like broken dishes
broken contracts, broken dates
broken streaks of luck
broken plans to save the world
at least save africa

avoid it at all costs
your instinct says
you watch for red-glow exit signs
you wear three safety belts
you seek prevention
you would trade
your life for painless peace
if you could choose, sometimes you would

but specter-like, it never leaves
in-built invading poking parasite
it floods across potato fields
and pours through children's eyes
a stigma cloud that never clears
a rabid clown that rides your back
and won't get down
it walks in halls without a light
it stalks with nothing but a knife
it screams how could you do that
and whispers so would i

grief falls in sheets
to flatten you
just pulverized
just paper thin
so you will fold around things
so you will fly, light-like
it can usher in joy

it can
joy
that lasts so broad
and spans so long
that spreads so much
faster
and wider
than any cancer could

it rains, it pours
vague or distinct
it locks the doors
until you think
there's nothing left of you
to answer
or until
you forget the question

and then one moment
while you quiver
waiting for fresh blades to fall
then that's when
the calmish storm
the wild grace
glides and collides
with sweet velocity
that magnitude of sovereign joy
might never be outrun
and never shall run out
thank God
no one's exempt

R.I.P.

Ebenezer, my Pentax Honeywell Spotmatic SLR, has served me well. I have to tell you, this is an unwelcome retirement, at least from my standpoint. I did not even make a cake. His last pictures were happy ones. Wedding ones. Outdoors, his favorite place to be.

This afternoon, I took ol' Eb to a camera shop (3rd shop attempt) to see about repair possibilities. His shutter is lodged, his rewind button is depressed, and there could be other things wrong too for all I know. No one really services or has parts for Spotmatics anymore, I guess. Today's shop refused to even send Eb away to professional repairmen. They told me there's no hope.

I'm sure I'll get a poem out of this. Ü

It's sad, but at least I've got a head start on coping. He's been out of commission since June, and a few months ago a wealthy client gave me a $300 digital camera out of the blue as a thank-you for pulling an all-nighter on a project. A very tangible reminder, if mundane and miniscule (in the big scope of things), that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

Villan vs. Elle

Finally.
Conquest?

zeugma that echoes Jeremiah 29?

And take to the world
this love, this hope and faith
Take to the world
this rare, relentless grace
And like the Three in One
Know you must become
what you want to save
Because that's still the way
He takes to the world

~ Aaron Tate in "Take to the World"

photo friday: "downtown"

:: for more about Photo Friday ::

another zeugma example

how beautiful:
the hands that serve
the wine and the bread
and the sons of the earth

~ Twila Paris in "How Beautiful"

theme thursday: "waiting"

:: for more about Theme Thursday ::

conversation at State and Trust

i just walked out of starbucks
with a tall dark mocha frapp
and now i'm leaning off a bridge
and looking down at that
a river like cold coffee
lit up by neon signs
and lamps that still can't warm me
and stars that barely shine
and, God, i just can't take it
some ways i've got it made
i know life's good, i know i'm rich
i know i can't complain
but coffee can be bitter
and lonely isn't sweet
and i walk past that church sign
and usually i laugh
but now it's like the neon
i slow down and go back
WHEN YOU ARE DOWN TO NOTHING
GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING
it quips in nifty rhythm
what you say in perfect pain
what you say in amputations
what you say in death and shame
what you say in every let-down
every staggering surprise
every irony that strikes home
every neighbor boy that mocks
every single single moment
every coffee spill that rocks
my fickle frail my feeble world
i guess i'm multi-blessed then
'cause when it rains it pours
i'm rich in more than one way
since you are "up to" more
but, Jesus, please come quickly
i'm weary of this wealth
at least come share this mocha
so i'm not by myself