THIS WAS A VERY STRANGE DAY. Maybe it was all the talk about 9-11, or perhaps it was the image of that publicity-seeking, idiot pastor in Florida who went through the week saying he was going to burn Korans to please God. That kind of thing throws me off my stride more than it once did. I usually don't like to wish anybody misfortune or pain, but I found myself wishing awful things today... like maybe a tree could fall on him or he could blunder into a deep ditch and not be able to get out for several days... Coming to the end of the day, I couldn't come up with a coherent idea for BLOG writing, and the pictures from today didn't fit into anything that could be thought of as coordinated and belonging together. I like the ficus leaves. They are new growth in late summer on a big fiddle-leaf ficus plant that I've nursed along for twenty years. I like green. The day had almost gone, the sun had set, and I thought I should go out and give it another shot; so I took the big camera on my tripod and went out to see what I could find. The driveway, curb, and sidewalk are the ordinary things of living... nothing spectacular... as commonplace as dirt... BUT I like it.
The big plywood sign about art killing artists was in an alley where I rode my bike early in the day. What is there to say about that... That sign got me thinking about T. S. Eliot and his Hollow Men... you know, the lines that end, "not with a bang but a whimper," and the part that goes before that, "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends." It must surely be the images of those exploding, falling towers that caused Eliot's poem to surface in my thinking.
And then my thinking turned toward wishing good stuff for people whom I admire and like... like our President. As I thought about seeing him and listening to him in that press conference yesterday, I wondered if he thinks sometimes he'd like to be able to wander out alone into the fading day and be free among ordinary things like the common, sweet coolness of early evening. I really like the man. I believe he is honest and as good as we are likely to get for a long time. I trust him.
1 comment:
For some reason I too was caught up in the film record of 9/11 and remembering driving to Virginia to be with Judith and the girls because Brent had left on Mondy on the same plane that hit the Pentegon on Tuesday. If he had left one day later our memories of that day would be radically different. Driving pass D.C., and seeing the Pentegon in flames was sureal and threatening. I realized that all the information was not in, the President was still in the air, and D. C., was the possible epicenter of a feared act of terrorism. Your picture was a welcomed site. Remembering the debri and the dust and ash that covered Manhattan, it was good to see a 9/11 picture of a very clean street. It's a memory, not current reality. It's a memory, not something we need to act against. It's a memory, not a reason to burn anything or anyone. It's a memory, not a cause to hate. It's a memory...the streets are now clean! Peace, and thanks.
Post a Comment