Waterslide
I might not have noticed her were it not for the threats she shouted—stay out, stay away, do not enter me, leave me alone. Peligro.
I might have driven right by, thinking, Just another pretty face, she’s let too many people in, she makes too much noise.
She was surely never as beautiful before she was prettified, abandoned, torched and abused. And then abandoned once again.
I could not love her until she lost everything.
(Aruba, 2012)
Sunday morning: Roosevelt Avenue
back and forth: 6.0 / 7.0/ 6.0/ 7.0/ 6.0
counting down: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 / 5
what does it all mean?
(jackson heights, queens, ny)
I live in a neighborhood of very recent immigrants, some legally, others undocumented. Makes for a lot of trying to fly under the radar and paranoia. This is the conversation I wound up having with a total stranger while I was taking this photograph. I’m assuming he worked in the building. I’m assuming he assumed I was a building inspector.
Man: What? What’s wrong?
Me: Nothing
Man: No, I don’t believe you. What’s wrong?
Me: I just like the way this looks.
Man: No.
Me: Yes, the parallel…
Man. No. Something’s wrong. What’s wrong?
Me: (audible sigh)
Man: No. You tell me. What’s wrong?
(jackson heights, queens, ny)
given a choice, I will almost always choose texture and risk, over smooth and safe. in my men, and in my weather.
(lost in the backroads of queens, ny)
Somewhere, lost in the back-roads of Queenz. A drawbridge. A stoplight that flashes only red, or yellow, there is no option for green. And a storm. Slow down. and Wait (for the storm to pass; you cannot outrun the storm).
(lost in the backroads of Queenz, ny)
One step closer to God.
Built in 1920, the Wonder Wheel’s original patent, for an “amusement apparatus” is a work of art, the finished product, a testament to Bethlehem Steel, with one car especially reserved for the ferris wheel dog.
(coney island, brooklyn, ny)
