Looking Back At 2008 As It Sails Away
Is it too late to look at some photos from last summer? The dog days of August were not so long ago. As we dive into the cold days of January I thought it would be fun to remember those moments when we got down to the bare essentials and basked in the sun.
Of course if you are living in Australia or many other places not associated with Virginia these photos may be much more relevant to your present existence.
The Crowd Not Among Us At The Richmond Folk Festival 2008
I found the bug that caused this post to go away. And this seems like the perfect time to also bring it back. So here it is.
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.I was looking around at the crowd yesterday at the Richmond Folk Festival.
I have trouble being in crowds. It’s a lot better than it used to be and since I have started taking photos I feel practically normal in the midst of my fellow human beings.
It has reached a point where I can enjoy them and yesterday it went a step beyond that.
I was looking around and it suddenly hit me that I owe a debt to all these people. Because they form the society that protects us in many different ways from many different things including powerful entities that can get out of control.
Many of them are involved in some way or another in every thing that I have as well. And at the top of this list is freedom. I wouldn’t do well living in a fascist state and am unhappy when someone suggests I do. Communism would not be much fun either. In the real world.
It is my belief that (although they often do not realize it) the soldier and the protester are actually fighting for the same thing. Freedom from oppression. One looks outward and the other more inward. Together they find a most difficult balance in a society like ours.
Some I do not see as I look around today. They cannot enjoy the beautiful weather and the entertainment. I cannot take their photo.
But their names are engraved on glass at the top of the hill. And when the sun sets it casts a beautiful light across them.
Perhaps I have not done that light justice in these photo. But it was there and I wanted to try and share it with you.
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I Woke Up This Morning And Went Here/ A Valentine Song/ Homeless In America
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
We are back in Richmond tonight. Here’s a photo from this morning. I woke up about 4:30 and the person next to me was still sleeping. I slipped out and walked down to the beach. Nothing was on my mind. I was blank. And I was watching this ship on the horizon. After awhile it reached a point where the horizon started to glow a little bit and I thought “this must be where the sun is going to arrive”.
And then the ship burst into flame. Or so it seemed.
This photo is so dark. I tried to lighten it up. But nothing works. This is the way the camera felt things were at this moment. Does it seem ill-formed to you?
Time passed and I found other things to shoot. What is a good way to describe what you are doing when you take a picture? Shoot seems too much like NRA material.
There was a large woman sleeping in the sand. She had been there the day before. Later when the sun arrived she was there wrapped in her black clothing smoking a cigarette. Someone started talking about a beached whale.
I didn’t find this particularly funny. What is it like to spend your day lying in the sand? Do you talk to the sand? Do you pray to the sky?
I wanted to take her photo. But I didn’t want to invade her privacy. Everyone in the photos I took today saw her there. Nobody spoke to her. She was in a separate world. A separate universe. And I couldn’t take anything from her. So no photos.
After awhile I returned to the sky where we live. I returned to the bed that catches the breezes as they enter the room from the balcony. And I pulled the clean sheet up over my shoulder to evade the chill. My brain settled into a dream . And the woman next to me pressed her body against my back.
And the beach below received the waves and held the spirit of a large woman in a small nest.
Perhaps I will meet her in my dream. Because in the light of day the gulf is too wide and I find it too difficult to communicate with her.
Life Is A Shipwreck/ Voltaire/ Alex Karras
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. ~Voltaire
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. ~G.K. Chesterton, “On Running After One’s Hat,” All Things Considered, 1908
Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. ~Alex Karras
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb
The Blueberry Fields / Poetry About The Death Of A Loved One
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This is poetry about the death of a loved one. In this case it is my mother who died in 1992. I was taking photos of the James River one day and went back home to get warm and look at them. It was a very peaceful time and as sometimes happens I began to write. The bushes along the river reminded me of something long ago. . .
Mother
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They left you on a shelf
Beneath the bricks and a cloudy sky
As we waited for your date with a field of grass.
The gentleman who dressed you was nice enough
And he rolled you out when I arrived to say “Good-bye”.
You rested in the center of the room
As I recalled the plastic flowers
On our dining room table years ago.
All of us plus Pops and Nana too
Thanking God for all His gifts
And the Sunday meals you made.
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And this as well.
On a beautiful summer day
You put on a white blouse and skirt
And took me to the blueberry fields.
You laughed as I pretended to take a broken drum
Out the door for the berries.
Then you sang a song just for us
As cool breezes charmed my senses
While goodness found mercy
Next to a stream and gave a little boy
A picture that would last until now.
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This morning I went to Starbucks
After watching the river at dawn,
Immersed in making photos with pastel shades of sky
And bushes that seemed blue in the early morning air.
I ordered coffee
To awaken my frozen limbs
And a blueberry scone.
The berries are sweet.
I find them more delicious
Than chocolate
Or wine.
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This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
-William Carlos Williams
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