"You Are Gone, Brother" by Troy's Work Table.
Sidewalk chalk wash, sidewalk chalk, chalk pastels, and charcoal pencil on 12" x 12" concrete board.
---
"We danced in sewage / And brushed our teeth with ash." and "We float like eyes stitched to the sky, / Looking for each other / In all the wrong places." —from "You Are Gone, Brother" by Zubair Ahmed, as found in City of Rivers
---
This poem, along with its companions in City of Rivers, is filled with a multitude of images and the vibrancy of life. It is also filled with longing and loss.
---
The interesting piece for me, though, is what happens between the strophes. In the spaces between them, there are pauses, moments of silence. Each of these is like a breath between words. Each of these is like a time and a space where reflection can take place.
---
This poem is remembrance and it is prayer. This poem is seeking and searching. This poem is ephemeral and fleeting things. It is filled with stench, dirt, ash, sewage, sand, and other things that "are vanishing."
Yet, even though things are messy and in a state of decay, the poem still miraculously holds together.
No comments:
Post a Comment