Battery Park Afternoon..... De vez en cuando la vida.....

A post 9/11 new york city afternoon.... For the living, life does go on doesn't it? That is the miracle that keeps giving........ Joan Manuel Serratt says it well......every so often life kisses our lips.....


De vez en cuando la vida
nos besa en la boca
y a colores se despliega
como un atlas,
nos pasea por las calles
en volandas
y nos sentimos en buenas manos;
se hace de nuestra medida,
coge nuestro paso
y saca un conejo de la vieja chistera
y uno es feliz como el niño
cuando sale de la escuela.
De vez en cuando la vida
toma conmigo café
y está tan bonita que
da gusto verla.
Se suelta el pelo y me invita
a salir con ella a escena.
De vez en cuando la vida
se nos brinda en cueros
y nos regala un sueño
tan escurridizo
que hay que andarlo de puntillas
por no romper el hechizo.
De vez en cuando la vida
afina con el pincel:
se nos eriza la piel
y faltan palabras
para nombrar lo que ofrece
a los que saben usarla.
De vez en cuando la vida
nos gasta una broma
y nos despertamos
sin saber qué pasa,
chupando un palo sentados
sobre una calabaza.

by Joan Manuel Serratt

Ansel.......landscape context removal?.....

Ghost Ranch in the Shadows of virtual reality pornography......

Someone said: "Landscape photography, like pornography, attempts to seduce the beholder by presenting an image divorced from its actual physical context ... "

The thought I've had is that such beautiful images of nature collude with our fantasies that the physical context of such "pristine" beauty are "somehow" separate from the daily destruction of mother earth........and not by natural causes. Even well meaning tourists (such as me) attracted by such scenes exact a cost...........

Just as pornographic images arouse sexual energy without love, connectedness and intimacy, landscape images can create the illusion of feelings and connections with our plantet that only exist in "virtual reality"......

This phenomenon reminds me of the "tree museum" Joanie Mitchel talks about in her song "Yellow Taxi":
"They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parkin' lot"

Peace like a river.......to all the people of the middle east......

Morning thoughts....
This bus is so crowded
Breaking news Headlines in my hands,
Can desire be engineered?
Can peace be cobbled together,
marketed, sold and consumed?
How and when do freedom fighters become feared terrorists?
God, this morning bus is crowded...

"Morning Glory", by Leonard Cohen

No words this time?
No words.
No, there are times when nothing can be done.
Not this time.
Is it censorship?
Is it censorship?
No, it's evaporation.
No, it's evaporation.
Is this leading somewhere?
Yes.
We're going down the lane.
Is this going somewhere?
Into the garden.
Into the backyard.
We're walking down the driveway.
Are we moving towards....
We're in the backyard.
...some transcendental moment?
It's almost light.
That's right.
That's it.
Are we moving towards some transcendental moment?
That's right.
That's it.
Do you think you'll be able to pull it off?
Yes. Do you think you can pull it off?
Yes, it might happen.
I'm all ears.
I'm all ears.
Oh the morning glory!

Osama Bin Laden and Zbigniew Brzezinski

Osama Bin Laden and Zbigniew Brzezinski
Originally uploaded by David Ian Wilson.

Osama Bin Laden and Zbigniew Brzezinski
President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski visiting 'his boy', Osama Bin Laden, in training with the Pakistan Army, 1981.Photo originally scanned from the New York Village Voice. Photo credited to the Sygma/Corbis Agency, Paris.


I'm blogging this snipet of FLICKr commentary (to this photo) because it crystalizes my thinking on our complicity and shared responsibility for terrorism in the world we live in. I'm convinced it requires that we actively or passively collude with the powers that exploit us by denying that our day-to-day pleasures, priviledges, and endulgences all come with a "price" tag.......for our silence. In all fairness to David, this is more about me than him as I'm aware that we are probably not that far apart on these issues. Peace David.


Comments from the flickr posting:

DeLares says:
If true it would be frightning ....maybe so maybe not........ I don't trust every pixle I see....................just the way I don't trust everything I read or hear :~)>
Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink delete edit )

DeLares says:
DELARES SAYS: Read what wikpedia had to say about this image:

WIKPEDIA SAYS: The copyright of this image is unknown, as is the original source. Until it can be verified, it should be treated skeptically. Furthermore, Bin Laden is gaunt and would tower at 6 foot 6 inches over Brzensnski. There is no evidence whatsoever that the stout Afghan-looking man is the gaunt, lanky Bin Laden.

While the above is almost certainly true, it is not demonstrable. In the unlikely event that it is not, and in light of its rarity, and its historical and political value, I contend that it falls within the sphere of fair use. This is why I give it that tag.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's very unlikely that bin-Laden would wear a Pakistani army uniform.......


DELARES SAYS: Hey, this source is subject to all kinds of distortion......for all I know the CIA and other "black psych-ops operators are regular contributors to wikpedia :~)
Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink delete edit )

David Ian Wilson says:
DeLares Said:
"It's very unlikely that bin-Laden would wear a Pakistani army uniform"

er...why? It's called 'hiding in plain sight'. If he was doing a spot of basic military training before heading into Afghanistan, the uniform would be the best way to prevent him standing out like a sore thumb and getting noticed

WIKPEDIA SAYS:
"There is no evidence whatsoever that the stout Afghan-looking man is the gaunt, lanky Bin Laden."

Stout? ha.. if that guy's 'stout' then I'm a sumo wrestler...

WIKPEDIA SAYS:
"and would tower at 6 foot 6 inches over Brzensnski."

Its a low angle, wide angle shot (the camera is down at crotch level) and Brzensnski is closest to the camera - of course Bin Laden isnt going to 'tower' over Brzensnski in a shot set up like that. But from the angle of Bin Ladens head it does look to me like he's looking down at Brzensnski not the other way around.
Posted 6 days ago. ( permalink )

DeLares says:
David...it's not what I'm saying, it's what WIKPEDIA is saying......and by the way, ask yourself: who writes school history textbooks, who writes entries into WIKPEDIA .......How much of what we "read" is factually "correct".....not just politically "correct"?I'm a believer that dis-information, propaganda and the so-called mass media are propagators of "information-sickness". This is a malady easily recognized by its many symptoms: ignorance, polarization, cynicism, hopelessness, apathy, hate, fear, fundamentalism....not to mention chaos, confusion and inscrutability.

I try to remember that: the "truth" is often a "story" about what is supposedly happening.....not necessarily the ultimate reality of what is actually going on. The masters of propaganda are playing all of us like violins..............Yes, these virtuosos are "hidden in plain sight" Shame on us, ...why? Because in order for the "big lies" or a "cons" to work, it requires that we collude by allowing the puppeteers to tap into our unexamined reservoirs of "larceny". What do I mean by that, you ask? By "larceny" I mean that we hold on to the magical belief that there is a "free lunch" out there.

Let's face it, our "personal freedom of choice" in the grand scheme of things means that our excessive and disproportionate use of the world's limited resources has a price. A price that cannot be endlessly subsidized on the backs of poor countries who are being ripped off by American multinationals. In the end, if it's not about Bin Laden, it'll be about some other "freedom fighter" some will call a "terrorist."

Another example, we are sold on is the idea by some campaigning politicians that we should not be required to pay high taxes (another "free lunch"), while the petroleum giants are also not being required to pay the American public their fair of royalties (another "free lunch") for pumping American oil that belongs to all of us......"the people"....so guess who's really paying? Not the corporations and protected trust funds....not to the outsourced and off-shore accounts. Whom then?....THE PEOPLE (us chickens) that's who!!!

If you follow my drift, it's not about how tall Bin Laden really is or what uniform he wore.......in America, it's not even about the distractions of same sex marriage or flag burning amendments to the constitution........We need to work for world peace and interdependence without lying to ourselves about the effort and costs involved. Namaste, Eliud

Amidst the ruins ≈ light

amidst the ruins ≈ light
Originally uploaded by alight.

Amidst the ruins ≈ light

"Open your heart and fill it with light."
~ kahlil gibran



This beautiful image of Lebanon was posted by my wonderful friend "alight" who happens to be one of my most favorite people on flickr.....well, just about anywhere, really ;~) Kelly is truly a d'alight from head to toe.....all 5'-10" of her :~) Her images and writing are an inspiration to me and everyone on flickr all the way to Lebanon. Her friend James (whose photo this is) and family, who are there, are in my prayers.

NIGHT SKY over Lebanon

My friend Boris from Vienna told me about his friend Mazen who is blogging from the bombarded city of Beirut. This is the note I wrote into his blog. The photo-montage came later, inspired by the last lines of Neruda's poem "Walking Around".


NIGHT SKY over Lebanon
Fauxto-montage inspired by "Walking Around" , by Pablo Neruda. Dedicated to Mazen Kerbaj of Beirut, Lebanon mazenkerblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/message-to-people-of-is...

My friend Mazen, your plight and that of the people of Lebanon pains me. It sends my heavy heart to a place beyond politics, agreements, logic, reasons...... a place of sadness and then beyond sadness to a place of prayer that becomes the language of the heart through poetry. My prayer for you today was written by Pablo Neruda and I hope it speaks to you in this moment that only you can know. All my brotherly love and sincerest wishes for peace, Eliud in New York City


Walking Around , by Pablo Neruda -

It so happens I am sick of being a man.
And it happens that I walk into tailorshops and movie
houses
dried up, waterproof, like a swan made of felt
steering my way in a water of wombs and ashes.

The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse
sobs.
The only thing I want is to lie still like stones or wool.
The only thing I want is to see no more stores, no gardens,
no more goods, no spectacles, no elevators.

It so happens that I am sick of my feet and my nails
and my hair and my shadow.
It so happens I am sick of being a man.

Still it would be marvelous
to terrify a law clerk with a cut lily,
or kill a nun with a blow on the ear.
It would be great
to go through the streets with a green knife
letting out yells until I died of the cold.

I don't want to go on being a root in the dark,
insecure, stretched out, shivering with sleep,
going on down, into the moist guts of the earth,
taking in and thinking, eating every day.

I don't want so much misery.
I don't want to go on as a root and a tomb,
alone under the ground, a warehouse with corpses,
half frozen, dying of grief.

That's why Monday, when it sees me coming
with my convict face, blazes up like gasoline,
and it howls on its way like a wounded wheel,
and leaves tracks full of warm blood leading toward the
night.

And it pushes me into certain corners, into some moist
houses,
into hospitals where the bones fly out the window,
into shoeshops that smell like vinegar,
and certain streets hideous as cracks in the skin.

There are sulphur-colored birds, and hideous intestines
hanging over the doors of houses that I hate,
and there are false teeth forgotten in a coffeepot,
there are mirrors
that ought to have wept from shame and terror,
there are umbrellas everywhere, and venoms, and umbilical
cords.

I stroll along serenely, with my eyes, my shoes,
my rage, forgetting everything,
I walk by, going through office buildings and orthopedic
shops,
and courtyards with washing hanging from the line:
underwear, towels and shirts from which slow
dirty tears are falling.

I blog therefore I am......

" Photo-montage by Eliud

This image and poem mirror the absurdity and capriciousness of violence in the world we live in today.......it's a bit about my struggle to remain artistically viable, if not hopeful, ....in the moment, as it arrives. It's also about my struggle to find an answer to the question: Is art just a luxury, a superfluous distraction in the face of war, famine, injustice, oppression......? Does it make a difference.....can I?

"We Are Waiting"
by Pablo Neruda
There are days that haven't arrived yet,
that are being made like bread or chairs
or a product from the pharmacies
or the woodshops:there are factories of days to come:
they exist, craftsmen of the soulwho raise and weigh
and preparecertain bitter or beautiful daysthat
arrive suddenly at the doorto reward us
with an orange or to instantly murder us.

In my mind, Pablo Neruda would have been my best friend and hero even if he'd never been famous, although Pablo Neruda (1904-73), is one of the renowned poets of the twentieth century. He was born in Parral, Chile. He shared the World Peace Prize with Paul Robeson and Pablo Picasso in 1950, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.


My first ever blog...... Don't really know where I'm going with this, but I do hope to have fun and provoke myself into thinking ideas "outloud", sharing poetry, orginal art, musings, rants and share my journey with anyone interested enough to come here.....the good, the bad and the ambiguous.

Who am I, what am I, why am I...? All questions that don't really require an answer but they have a way of showing in the most unexpected and mundane ways. And if any of this is a mystery to you as it is to me, then it just simply is what it is......I blog therefore I am. To keep it short and sweet, I'm an artist, a photographer ......and maybe even a writer of who knows what.....

Whatever this may mean to you, I’ve been a lifelong photographer. Over time I've discovered the joys of recording the life I've learned to have and love. At this time photography has become the medium of an artistry I’ve always had but never quite gave myself to.

I still see myself as an emerging artist although many years in the making...... "struggling" in the relative obscurity and safety of fulltime and, on occasion, thankless employment as a civil servant. No complaints here. It's allowed me to pay rent as well as the luxury of "doing art" on my own terms. I believe Ansel Adams had it right when he said:

"We don`t make a photograph just with a camera;

we bring to the act of photography all the books we have read,

the movies we have seen, the music we have heard,

the people we have loved.”

To this I will add.....all the cool & unloved jobs we've had, all the places and poetry I've loved....and most of all, all the things I've learned........then outgrew, unlearned or forgggotten. It's all brought me to right now.......