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Sunday 27 March 2016

Excellent Freedom

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True Miracle Tabernacle Community Church of God In Christ | by efo

True Miracle Tabernacle Community Church of God in Christ (Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia).: photo by efo, 11 March 2016

When first we met we did not guess
we eased back the way you did no door open
alone as if enduring to the end

surrounded by thy slotted saints
we stood there in the middle of the road
who could foretell this disaster


When first we met we did not guess
we stood there in the middle of the road
surrounded by thy slotted saints
we eased back the way you did no door open
alone as if enduring to the end

who could foretell this disaster

When first we met we did not guess
alone as if enduring to the end
we eased back the way you did no door open

we stood there in the middle of the road
surrounded by thy slotted saints

who could foretell this disaster


Holy Ghost Crusade Church Diptych | by efo

Holy Ghost Crusade Church Diptych. Philadelphia. Diptych from Zarya.: photo by efo, 27 March 2016

Hassan's Make A Choice Variety Store | by efo

Hassan's Make A Choice Variety Store. Philadelphia. Iskra.: photo by efo, 26 March 2016

Doghouse | by efo

Doghouse. Philadelphia. Iskra. Or is it some other kind of dwelling?.: photo by efo, 26 March 2016

Excellent freedom | by efo

Excellent freedom (Philadelphia)
: photo by efo, 11 March 2016

Auto repair, Philadelphia | by efo

Auto repair, Philadelphia: photo by efo, 11 March 2016

High test | by efo

High Test (Philadelphia): photo by efo, 12 March 2016

5 comments:

billoo said...

Tom,

I've only been to the States twice and both times it seemed a lot cleaner than this! I wonder if you'd put those pictures up without the captions how many of us (non-Americans) would have guessed that what we were seeing was the supposedly richest country in the world.

TC said...

William De Vaughn: Be Thankful for What You Got: recorded at Sigma Sound Studio, Philadelphia, 1972, released 1974

TC said...

billoo,

Many thanks for that very useful bit of honesty.

There are Americans who have never seen the streets of American cities.

In many cases, they look like this.

Much of the country has been increasingly derelict for some time. The people who live in the derelict sections are not taken into account. This makes for the uneasy stability which passes for a normal state of things. But the concrete surface is riddled with cracks and broken places and signs of ruin.

This country is fully as impoverished -- and as lethal -- as yours. Much as with your country, there are places where tourists never go. And for good reason.

You will not see any of the presidential candidates setting foot in these places any time soon. And for good reason.

They are contending to preside over a massive lie a historically self-deceived people desperately longs to believe -- something about democracy if I recall...

The only place the ideological American dream of green lawns and safely gated ruling class reservations and preserves still exists and thrives is in that curious diorama simulation of Long Island in the 1950s, the Israeli settlement "culture".

Mose23 said...

Beautiful poem. All of us caught in the middle of the road.

Efo's photos often remind me of parts of Birmingham. The buildings I knew are being torn down and privately owned PoMo confectionaries are being put up in their place so there's some comfort in the remnants.

TC said...

Yes, there's more Brum hid away in some American cities than one might have thought. Detroit for one, Newark. Philadelphia certainly. That top shot offers a kind of hybrid faith, in the money system or that other. Efo's eye catches the cruciform all over the frame -- the utility pole off to the right, for instance.