| Go back to previous topic | | Forum name | Freestyle Board Archives | | Topic subject | For Gordon Parks. | | Topic URL | http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=20&topic_id=18733 |
18733, For Gordon Parks.
Posted by Soledad, Thu Mar-09-06 11:38 PM
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
-Kahlil Gibran
it took being broken
seated on the floor of a Borders bookstore
a pile of photography books
i could never afford
stacked around me like a fortress
it took a summertime that otherwise felt like
deceit had run its ragged fingernails down my arms
to make me take a second look
and i did---
i could smell the despair
on a little boy named Flavio
his sunken eyes imploring, piercing
i could grip a cold gun barrel in my palm
grit my teeth,
fear trickling down my back in sweat beads
peeking through a dark alley of
a Harlem i’d never know
i could taste the bitter water from the
colored-only fountain, sipping with defiance, not defeat
determination of a new day soon come
exist amid the last moments of a bedridden woman, her
frail hand held up in farewell, her eyes acknowledging the beyond,
poverty--
hard to feed five mouths on a budget that can barely fill one
it took a being broken
an empty wallet
a Nikon FM50 with insect parts trapped inside
the viewfinder
a world
i hadn’t stopped long enough to appreciate in passing
but especially
a blue book full of
days dangling
on the end of an autumn moon
a blue book
made dog-eared
from the countless fingers that
perhaps flipped the pages looking for something
more than inspiration
a broken heart, understanding,
a sense of the unknown and no map to guide me
my toes hanging over the edge of sorrow's cliff
to make me take a second look
at why sometimes
you must trap the moments
worth repeating
as well as the ones without merit
because
the beautiful/especially the ugly
the in-between
the seconds stuck
in freeze-frame
breathed life
into still image
all can make you learn.
to develop film
you must learn the shape of the smooth
that has been broken
from its metal shell in the darkness
you must trust your right hand with the can opener
that will pry the canister's top off and not spear your left
you must have patience to
wrap the film around the metal spool
and all in darkness
i found my sight
in total darkness
anyone can take a picture;
it takes trust
patience
breaking
to develop what only
the dark can see.
© MLH
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18734, RE: For Gordon Parks.
Posted by ASIEM, Fri Mar-10-06 04:56 AM
I applaud you and the depth this piece encounters this is truly a salute and honor...the entire time i wonder if he GP wrote it?
"keep pennin till the earth birth's your rightful seed then nurture it wit more ink..."
"there are no writers just channels"
ASIEM
"Kuun fiyah Kuun" Quran
(Be and it is)
" A writer takes his pen to write the words again that
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18735, RE: For Gordon Parks.
Posted by Morehouse, Fri Mar-10-06 10:13 AM
wonderful
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18736, (((Awe -- And Then Some)))
Posted by PhotoSynthesis, Fri Mar-10-06 12:48 PM
*Awesome*
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18737, you just
Posted by mindful, Fri Mar-10-06 09:59 PM
make it easy to enjoy this artform... truly, you do...
hard to feed five mouths on a budget that can barely fill one
it took a being broken
an empty wallet
a Nikon FM50 with insect parts trapped inside
the viewfinder
a world
i hadn’t stopped long enough to appreciate in passing
but especially
a blue book full of
days dangling
on the end of an autumn moon
a blue book
*nods*
------------------------
Pinwheels and Hula Hoops: my book
http://www.lulu.com/content/132318
http://msmind.blogspot.com
why is it then
do we leave the details to the devil
but get angry at God? ©kimabe
no shit in 06.
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18738, u did this mama
Posted by rgv, Wed Mar-29-06 08:28 PM
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18739, he was the ultimate renaissance man
Posted by invisible ink, Thu Mar-30-06 10:32 AM
and to answer the other question on the boards...he was just an incredible artist...not BLACK artist...but a truly gifted photographer,film maker, artist, poet and muscian...and THAT'S that...k boogie
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