Monday, January 25, 2010

Etude in Sharp Staccato

PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL:
What are the lessons of winter as I walk along the river path?
Sleigh bell winter,
sub zero and transfixed;
even suspended the raccoon's nightly sortie on the barncat's bowl
and broke autumn's ceded husks, cracked its brittle leaves.

Feet get heavy and fingers grow numb trying to catch magic.
Space constricts.
I stand beside the car,
fingers too stiff to open the clasp on my backpack
and unable to escape inside the car with the backpack locked to my
        spine.

If the essence of photography involves stopping the world,
what does one photograph when the world stops?
Or has it merely stood still a moment to pose?

2 comments:

Trotter said...

The world stopping isn't easy... Like Heraclitus said some 2500 years ago, «You can not step twice into the waters of the same river»... But the picture is awesome!

Emery Roth said...

Heraclitus never saw the river freeze. I;m glad you liked the picture. Thanks.