after completing messes of men, the first part of my photography project inspired by mewithoutYou’s brother, sister, cranking the second part out was surprisingly easy. as part of this shoot i learned about betta fish and discovered just how many things cockle burrs can latch onto. [and how cold 40-degree weather can be — thanks to models matt & carolyn of the fluorescent and ben for being great sports and incredibly patient even though it was painfully chilly outside.)
here are some selections from the shoot.
first came a strong wind
rippin’ off rooftops like bottlecaps
and bending lamp posts down to the ground
then came a thunder, shattering my windows
but You were not that strong wind or that mighty sound
that left the barn in shambles
the rabbit hutch in ruins
the split-rail fence splintered and the curtains torn
all the cows out from the pastures trampling of the pumpkins
and the horses from their stable ambling in the corn
i’ve flown unnoticed just behind You like an insect and i’ve watched You like a falcon from a distance as You passed
then swooped down to be nearer, to the traces of Your footsteps to pick the fallen grain from the dirt beneath the crooked grass
and i’m gonna take that grain and i’m gonna crush it all together into the flour of a bread as small and simple and sincere
as when the dryness and the rain finally drink from one another the gentle cup of mutually surrendered tears!
a fish swims through the sea
while the sea is in a certain sense
contained within the fish!
oh, what am i to think
of what the writing of a thousand lifetimes
could not explain
if all the forest trees were pens
and all the oceans – ink?
