TOM CLARK: Life and Nothing More / hellish all day but then look okay for a moment

#Iraq An Iraqi boy carries a birdcage on his back as he flees from the Old City of Mosul during #Mosul Offensive Photo Ahmad Al Rubaye #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

The image fades as the small, slight figure diminishes and recedes into the haze of trees and stars at the far edge of the clearing. It's this deceptively verdant sidereal haze that made them so dizzy when they first came here, the grey misunderstanding-incense, the creeping, greenish uncaught-reference-disease, the infinity-trigger sickness which over the successive waves of migration had affected so many first-time voyagers to this world. But they cannot bear to remove themselves from the delirious nightmare of space, cannot go back to the mundane terrestrial lighted corner bedroom which now appears through glass as a kind of aquarium, getting more and more distant, and presently the departing planet rises in the night sky of this world like a tiny bonfire: on it, children run screaming still dripping with morning spray from the sprinklers of suburban lawns through hedgerows of pulsing orange and violet flame.

2017-06-09-11-47-54: photo by Ana.Caldas, 13 June 2017

Efeitos solares. Lx 2010/2011. 2017-06-09-11-47-54: photo by Ana.Caldas, 27 December 2010

*: photo by Ana.Caldas, 11 June 2017

*2017-06-09-11-47-54: photo by Ana.Caldas, 13 June 2017

*: photo by Ana.Caldas, 11 June 2017

As Iraqi forces storm Mosul's Old City quarter, a desperate Islamic State strikes back: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 21 June 2017

#Iraq Displaced Iraqis wait to fill jerricans with water at al-Khazir camp located between Arbil and Mosul. Photo Mohamed El-Sahed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Iraq A member of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service smokes a waterpipe while on a break during #MosulOffensive Photo Mohamed El-Sahed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#India Dark clouds gather over Arabian sea during the monsoon near Mumbai harbour. Photo @punitpix: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Portugal A road meanders among burnt forest areas affected by a wildfire in Vale do Cambra, near Pedrograo Grande. Photo @MiguelRiopa #portugalfire: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#South Sudan A South Sudanese woman sits in the shade at Al-Nimir refugee camp in Sudan's east Dafur. Photo Ashraf Shazly #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#South Sudan South Sudan has declared famine in parts of the country, saying a million people are on the brink of starvation. Photo Ashraf Shazly: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

GAZA STRIP - A Palestinian man prepares mackerels to be smoked and sold at a market ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Rafah. Photo @saidkhatib: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Qatar Men herd camels in a desert area on the Qatari side of the Abu Samrah border crossing between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Photo Karim Jaafar #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

A man wearing a helmet tries to put out flames from a forest fire using a branch in Portugal: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 20 June 2017

Philippine forces launch renewed push against Islamist militants in Marawi in hopes of clearing the city by weekend: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 20 June 2017

#Afghanistan Afghan security personnel patrol during the ongoing offensive to retake Tora Bora that is held by the Islamic State group. Photo @Noorullah700: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

GAZA CITY A Palestinian child holds bread at his home before the Iftar dinner during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Photo @mohmdabed: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

Venezuela Demonstration against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. Photo @jbarreto1974: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Portugal Forest rangers watch the columns of smoke rising from a wildfire in Gois, Coimbra district. Photo Patricia De Melo Moreira #portugalfire: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#Haiti Women walk with buckets of water on their heads on the streets of Jalousie neighborhood, in Petion Ville. Photo @hectorretamal #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Morocco A man bakes biscuits in preparation for the start of Eid marking the end of the Ramadan in Chefchaouen. Photo @SwiftIrving: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 21 June 2017

#Portugal A dead deer lays on the roadside in an area affected by a wildfire at Vila Pedro in #Portugal Patricia De Melo Moreira #portugalfire: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#Pakistan Visitors take a 'selfie' as they sit in a boat on the banks of the Ravi river amid rain in Lahore. Photo Ari Ali: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#Venezuela A man affected by tear gas sits on the sidewalk during a protest against President Maduro's government in Caracas. Photo @federicoparra: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#Russia A street vendor sells coffee in the early hours in Saint Petersburg. Photo @AFPMladen #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

A soldier cordons off an area outside Gare Central in Brussels after an explosion rocked the train station in Belgium: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 20 June 2017

#South Korea Visitors look through binoculars towards North Korea at the Odusan observatory in Paju. Photo @edwardesjones: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

#Indonesia A scavenger sits on a raft as he attempts to collect recyclable materials in a river in downtown Jakarta. Photo @b4yismoyo #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 20 June 2017

Emma Butterfleld, doctor at Proactiva Open Arms NGO, comforts Ahmat Arbab Hamat, 22, from Sudan, as he arrives sick at the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel, after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.: photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP, 20 June 2017

People carry away the body of a civilian who was killed in a car bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia Tuesday, June 20, 2017. A number of people are dead after a suicide car bomber in a vehicle posing as a milk delivery van detonated at a district headquarters in Somalia's capital, police said Tuesday.: photo by Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP, 20 June 2017

A woman walks on a pedestrian crossing in the rain Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Tokyo.: photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP, 21 June 2017

The dead body of a woman is seen floating on the Mediterranean sea, at 20 miles north of Zuwarah, Libya, on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. At least three bodies with sign of decomposition were found by aid organizations on Wednesday, apparently from a recent sinking boat in the area from people who were attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in packed boats from Libya.: photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP, 21 June 2017

A man wearing a Venezuelan tricolor flag jacket kneels in prayer during a vigil to mourn a student who was killed during clashes between anti-government protesters and Bolivarian National Guard officers, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. The 17-year-old student was shot dead on Monday the Public Prosecutor's Office said, bringing the death toll to 72 in two months of demonstrations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.: photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP, 21 June 2017

Mahmoud Hassanen Aboras, father of Nabra Hassanen, left, sits with family as he listens to speakers Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Reston, Va., during a vigil in honor of Nabar, who was killed over the weekend. Islamic leaders are questioning Virginia detectives' insistence that the beating death of Nabar appears to have been a case of road rage, saying the attack looks all too much like a hate crime.: photo by Steve Helber/AP, 21 June 2017

Dancers wait backstage as they prepare for a dance performance during the Bali Arts Festival in Bali, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. The resort island of Bali is holding a month-long annual Bali Arts Festival from June 10 to July 8.: photo by Firdia Lisnawati, 21 June 2017

Aymara Indians hold up their hands to receive the first rays of sunlight in a New Year's ritual in the ruins of the ancient city Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,525 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle.: photo by Juan Karita/AP, 21 June 2017

A boy uses his cellphone as he lays on a bench at a public park in Beijing, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Beijing is dotted with urban parks that offer a quieter, greener respite from the crowded streets of China's capital.: photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP, 21 June 2017

On World Refugee Day: Children refugees....: image via Muhammad Muheisen @Muheisen81, 20 June 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, tents that refugees and other migrants use as a temporary shelter stand on a beach near the Souda refugee camp, next to the medieval castle of Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Tents that refugees and other migrants use as a temporary shelter stand on a beach near the Souda refugee camp, next to the medieval castle of Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 29, 2017, photo Syrian women queue for food distribution at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Syrian women queue for food distribution at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 29 May 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a Pakistani migrant wrings a t-shirt as his shadow falls on a tent at a beach near the Souda refugee camp, where hundreds refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Pakistani migrant wrings a t-shirt as his shadow falls on a tent at a beach near the Souda refugee camp, where hundreds of refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a refugee chats with his phone inside his shelter that stands next to a fishing boat near the Souda refugee camp, on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A refugee chats with his phone inside his shelter that stands next to a fishing boat near the Souda refugee camp, on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a little girl from Syria walks on a beach where refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents near the Souda refugee camp, under the medieval castle of Chios on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A little girl from Syria walks on a beach where refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents near the Souda refugee camp, under the medieval castle of Chios on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 26, 2017 photo, a Syrian man with a boy drives a van as he distributes food inside the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian man with a boy drives a van as he distributes food inside the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 25, 2017 photo, refugees enter their shelters at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Refugees enter their shelters at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 25 May 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a man prays at the seaside where refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents near the Souda refugee camp, under the medieval castle of Chios on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A man prays at the seaside where refugees and other migrants live in makeshift tents near the Souda refugee camp, under the medieval castle of Chios on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a refugee looks at his tablet inside a tent that he uses as a shelter at a beach near the Souda refugee camp, on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A refugee looks at his tablet inside a tent that he uses as a shelter at a beach near the Souda refugee camp, on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 29, 2017 photo, Barzan Hasan from Irbil, Syria, holds his 5-month-old baby girl Gaylan, as he walks next to his other daughter Lamar on their way to their shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. The family has been stuck in Greece for almost one year and a half, Gaylan was born as a refugee in Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Barzan Hasan from Irbil, Syria, holds his 5-month-old baby girl Gaylan, as he walks next to his other daughter Lamar on their way to their shelter at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. The family has been stuck in Greece for almost one year and a half, Gaylan was born as a refugee in Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 29 May 2017

In this May 25, 2017 photo, three-year-old Ragika from Syria plays with a plastic toy horse at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. According to the UN Refugee agency there are more than 21 millions refugees around the world. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Three-year-old Ragika from Syria plays with a plastic toy horse at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. According to the UN Refugee agency there are more than 21 million refugees around the world.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 26, 2017 photo, 16-year- old Amor Biro from Syria works out at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. Amor and his family wants to go to Germany. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

16-year- old Amor Biro from Syria works out at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. Amor and his family want to go to Germany.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 26 May 2017

In this May 26, 2017 photo, a Syrian family tend their garden at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian family tend their garden at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 26 May 2017

In this June 9, 2017 photo, a Syrian man sleeps outside his tent on a beach where hundreds of refugees and migrants have found temporary shelter near the Souda refugee camp on Chios island, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian man sleeps outside his tent on a beach where hundreds of refugees and migrants have found temporary shelter near the Souda refugee camp on Chios island, Greece.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 9 June 2017

In this May 25, 2017 photo, a Syrian girl takes down dry washing at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian girl takes down dry washing at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 25 May 2017

In this May 25, 2017 photo, refugees and other migrants pray inside a tent at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. This trailer is being used as a mosque in the camp. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Refugees and other migrants pray inside a tent at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. This trailer is being used as a mosque in the camp.: photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP, 25 May 2017

hellish all day but then look okay for a moment (champing at the bit)

Sans titre [Paris]: photo by Marco Giusfredi, 8 April 2015

Sacramento can be hellish all day but then look okay for a moment | by rickele

Sacramento can be hellish all day but then look okay for a moment. It was still 102 degrees at the moment I shot this.: photo by Rick Ele, 18 June 2017

Rainbow costume. Taipei, Taiwan.: photo by Aaron Aardvark, 31 October 2015

Dog-show dog [Wasilla, Alaska]: photo by Aaron Aardvark, 12 August 2014

Crosswalk dino. Taipei, Taiwan.: photo by Aaron Aardvark, 1 April 2015

Chipmunk [Tokyo]: photo by Aaron Aardvark, 1 February 2014

West Mesa, Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, May 2017

Welcome to the neighborhood | by rickele

Welcome to the neighborhood [Sacramento] : photo by Rick Ele, 18 June 2017

Green box home [Eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 21 June 2017

6th St. Bridge arch [LA, 2016]: photo by Andrew Murr, 20 June 2017

Sid's [Eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 20 June 2017

[Istanbul]: photo by bb1mm1, 2 April 2017

[Marseille]: photo by Vince_21, 7 February 2015

[Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand]: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 14 March 2015

Untitled: photo by muhammad muttaqun, 21 September 2014

[Bangkok]: photo by Nakarin Teerapenun, 28 March 2015

the garbage and the firefly | by mosuner

the garbage and the firefly [Istanbul]: photo by mosumer, 18 January 2015

Street photo, Madagascar: photo by Tolojanahary RANAIVOSA, 25 June 2015

5 comments:

TC said...: wilbert harrison: lets stick together (1952)

wilbert harrison: kansas city (covering leiber & stoller, 1959)

eddie cochran: summertime blues (1959, live)

william de vaughn: be thankful for what you've got (1972); 22 June 2017 at 13:19
Unknown said...: Enjoying JGL's SW landscapes and Rick Ele color. Mosumer's firefly is wonderful. And these tunes are good medicine! How could we have summer w/o them? I thought Curtis Mayfield did "Be thankful..."! What a fine line this is: "Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin the scene with a gangster lean." I still do that now and again! Thanks, Tom; 22 June 2017 at 15:34
TC said...: Thanks Tom, always great to hear which photos have hooked the eye. JGL is the poet those grand SW spaces and skies have forever cried out for. Equally and differently with Rick Ele and Sac, a place/no-place that never knew it deserved poetry at all. (Very hot up there this week, putting me in mind of first stopping in on a long road trip, June '51, when the glaring white asphalt was sizzling and shimmering at a how-can-this-be Saharan 106 degrees outside the greasy spoon dive on old US 40... at the time considered something of a freak event but like the past half year of unprecedented cold and wet that has just preceded, such extreme heat cycles now to be expected as routine any more and "going forward" I guess...)

Curtis Mayfield's surely a great genius who deserves all the praise in the world for what he has given, but the extra share of respect long mistakenly accorded him for the wondrous "Be thankful..", a tune by which 1972 will be remembered at its best (by me anyway), was always properly owed to William deV. They used to say It's the singer not the song but in this case maybe it ought to be tother way round... or both?

"You may not have a car at all..." is a line upon which a More Sensible Civilization might honourably be founded (croaked the small weak voice from somewhere among the rusty bottom strata of the pick 'n pull junkheap).

And oh the firefly -- yes! -- #1 inspiring being of the week, he gives me reason to believe, though I don't know yet in What.; 23 June 2017 at 00:45
jesse said...: thanks for the summertime post today Mr Tom Clark! oh summertime heats up. and the slugs found the strawberry patch, they beat us to the last few berries.

And I think about the up and down temps here in illinois too, only by noon do i know what to expect for a high temp. Not worth keeping up with a forecast. The recent years seem to point towards moody patterns.

Today is the middle gentle little trendbreaker.
Off to the I&M canal to bike thru the infrastructure of the past.

(Here is an image poem of my own if you want to check it out and stash it if you feel it.postimg.org/image/yonzv984x/ You can edit this out of the comment yeah); 23 June 2017 at 13:12
TC said...: Oh yes, jesse, I do remember many a moody Illinois summer.; 23 June 2017 at 14:30

TOM CLARK

Thursday, 22 June 2017

Life and Nothing More / hellish all day but then look okay for a moment

5 comments:

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