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Dubuque, Iowa: photo by John Vachon, April 1940
Photos by John Vachon from Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Library of Congress
Friday, 17 December 2010
John Vachon: Blinds, Frames (Dubuque, Iowa, April 1940)
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13 comments:
After a Photo by John Vachon
Windows broken,
glazed over, abandoned
casket factory.
Don
Don, my heart fell open from there to here:
Insects are crying;
A hole in the wall
Not seen yesterday.
-- Issa
(R.H. Blyth, Haiku: Vol. IV Autumn-Winter)
On, yes, Tom, an Issa I haven't seen and so perfectly capturing his all-encompassing compassion. From this morning's post @ The Hut, another Issa I hadn't seen:
Don't weep, insects-
lovers, stars themselves,
must part.
-- Issa, translated by Lucien Stryk
Vachon shares with Issa the sound of anguished hearts ...
And a sweet post that is, Don.
rain in the downspouts
before dawn -- the very large
in the very small
Tom,
Yes, "the great and seemingly inexhaustible Vachon" -- what an eye to show us such things, that casket factory, those children who live in the slums . . . .
12.17
grey whiteness of cloud against shadowed
top of ridge, motion of leaves on branch
in foreground, sound of waves in channel
this object in this appears,
which was arrangement
of “flatness” comparable to
color, “subject,” one
cloudless blue sky reflected in channel,
wingspan of gull gliding toward horizon
some eye
these "slums"
my home
These all seem like scenes I can see and feel every day if I drive from Paoli (near my house in Berwyn) to Center City, Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, not the highway route, i.e., closely following the path of Main Line local train to 30th Street. Things get unhappier as you approach the city (crossing City Avenue), but the depression is apparent from the beginning of the drive. Vachon's eye is incredible. So must his heart have been.
Tom,
Yes, "Blinds, Frames" -- how much offstage action John Vachon catches in each of these . . . .
12.18
grey whiteness of fog against invisible
ridge, green shapes of leaves on branch
in foreground, wave sounding in channel
element of composition more
or less, row of trees
so it is that what is still,
and also, within this
grey-white of sky reflected in channel,
whiteness of gull gliding toward ridge
Vachon's eye is incredible. So must his heart have been.
offstage action John Vachon catches in each of these . . .
element of composition more
or less,
yes, yes, yes.
It's very interesting how you end the series of images with such a tremendous confrontation: the big residence and the poor shack (Does the sign says that it's open to visits?)
Espero que hoy te encuentres mejor de salud.
Gracias, Julia, para entender este relato tan poco así.
El abismo social entre los ricos y los pobres ha existido siempre en los EE.UU., aunque esto no siempre es reconocido.
American Home: Abierta al público - un mensaje irónico con varios niveles de significado.
Oh well worth trailing through all these for that old chap smiling his toothless (nearly) smile. Beautiful, you. You can see his smile has come right from the bottom of his heart.
Yes, he is all there for us, then ... and now.
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