Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.


Monday 10 February 2014

Hazen Robert Walker: "the rain comes down..."


.

16th and Wood, West Oakland: photo by Dave Glass (Dizzy Atmosphere), 19 October 2009



the rain comes down first in color, 
then in black and white,
just as it should.

and note carefully,
how the encroaching shadows
move with you, quick and certain,
like a predator about to pounce.

and how
under the guise of departing
for some unknown destination
people stand and wait
everybody comes and goes into the light
into the bardo of what’s next
 


Hazen Robert Walker: "the rain comes down...", 9 February 2014




Washington and 9th Street, Oakland, California: photo by Dave Glass (Dizzy Atmosphere), 1977; posted 21 May 2013

8 comments:

ACravan said...

Two thumbs up. Curtis

Anonymous said...

a transitional and permanent feeling...

Hazen said...

Thanks Curtis. And thank you, Tom for all that you do.

Mose23 said...

"Everybody comes and goes into the light"

Wonderful stuff, Hazen.

How the body holds itself in the first photograph.

In that second shot you can smell that lovely scent of wet streets.

More rain.

Nin Andrews said...

Love it!

Hazen said...

Much appreciated, WB. And thanks also for the link to the Go Betweens. Apt in so many ways.

TC said...

One toe in the bardo every night around here.

Hazen has been illuminating our collective endarkenment since, if I remember correctly, the Original Flood.

Every time I think of the late great Grant McLennan and the Go Betweens I think of this lovely song:

Robert Forster and Grant McLennan play an acoustic version of 'Cattle & Cane' and talk about writing a song about growing up in Queensland while living in London

K.C. said...

Wonderful poem! It calls for multiple readings, and with each iteration, nuances rise to the surface and take shape. There is a powerful synergy between text and photography, and a word that comes to mind is “liminal.” I look forward to more poetry from Hazen!