I don’t know

I often hear the voice ask me

You know the one

What are you doing?

What are you waiting for?

Why haven’t you done it?

Why are you still here?

If I am being honest,

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I JUST AM.

The Insult

There are some people, when passed on the street, for whom a single glance seems to be an insult; the photograph then becomes a superinsult, the ultimate insult.

This would define the stature, the physique (and the myth) of the street photographer, the reporter: a bruiser, a brute, someone who can stand up to the insult hurled back at him, heavy and awkward, blind, desensitized.

– Hervé GuibertGhost Image

Ghost Image

It is said that the purpose of a family photograph is to preserve memory, but it creates images that take the place of memory, conceal it, and are a kind of respectable history, unnuanced and interchangeable, passed from one family to the next with the vague hope of leaving a trace for future generations. Not a literary history, but a superficial history.

–  Hervé Guibert

Long after you are gone

long after you are gone

Long after you are gone,
I feel the presence
of where you used to be.

Together, you and me

I can still remember The first day I ever saw you Standing there so Self-assured I filled with such doubt Of who I was And could yet be But you always knew Always could see That part of me I could never set free Until the first day I ever saw you Standing there so Self-assured I was filled with such awe Of who you were And what we could yet be. Together, you and me.

Unmoored

Such Envy, I have.
For those with no doubt.
For whom life’s plan is clear.
A destination, clearly, seen at the end.
For those who walk on level ground,
Stable ground with no pitfalls or detours.

Such Envy, I have.
For those with no questions.
For whom land is their constant companion.
A horizon of luscious land, no sea within sight.
For those who never experience the terror of being
battered to-and-fro, alone, in a storm.

A Question of Self

Three women sitting down together
Each discussing their lives
All are separate yet
All are the same.

A three-sided mirror sits
Each face waiting to reflect
An image.
The first face – always uncovered
Catches the sun’s rays
To send out to the world.
The second – sometimes uncovered
In only the deepest silences
Always alone despite the crowd.
The third – never uncovered.
Its face, unknown even to its owner
Who sometimes always with
The greatest of trepidation
Gathers a moment of courage
To grab the corner of the cover
Intending to pull it back and reveal
What lies beneath.
Only to stop at just the last moment,
Each and Every time.

Three women, three lives.
Three mirrors, three images.
Two lies and one truth, or
Three truths and no lies?

Two creatures walked together, hand in hand,

Two creatures walked together, hand in hand,
One a mouse, the other a man.
If given a choice to choose between the two,
Always choose the mouse, it’s better for the health of you.