Poetry.
Looking West.
"Everything around us was covered in a fine, cotton candy frost. The whole scene had a surreal and eerily peaceful feel about it, like waking up in a hospital bed after a drunken night gone bad."
Diner window.
"The palms that shot out from the frayed sleeves were calloused, as if they wrestled day and night with some terrible iron angel I could never comprehend. The wrists were impossibly thin."
although the war
Poetry.
Playground.
"Delivered from sleep, I was the infinite outcast, the wandering fool, my eyes renewed by nocturnal angels. I marveled at the secrets that made flowers flourish in their tidy beds, the stoic indifference of deserted playgrounds shone through painted steel."
Tailiu Plaza.
"I thought I’d seen it fucking all in this place, but this new devilry utterly confounded me."
Elderly couple.
"I stood around listening for a while, then I sat down on the concrete across from them. They didn’t seem to mind. The woman was quietly sorting through a large bag of colourful stacks of paper. Perhaps they were the blueprints for the true revolution that never happened."
Brothers in arms.
"Social distancing? They care not. Having the choice to rather be six feet under than spend one’s life six feet apart should be everyone’s God-given right, and they simply have the courage to claim it, standing tall and stalwart like oaks in a storm."
Kaide Mall.
"Sometimes, when we’re bored, hungover, or both, we just wander around, dizzy from the carbon monoxide accumulating in our muzzles, and giggle like glue-sniffing teens at unwittingly naughty chain store names like Elf Sack, Hotwind and Chlitina."
Strangers on a train.
"Looking back at these intimate, oddly alluring portraits now, I am grateful to have captured the shadow of humanity that still haunted those addled faces on the daily descent into zombiedom."
Old man on the pier.
"Overhead, gulls were lamenting the platinum light. My mom, who passed away years ago, used to say that some day she’d return as one, so I always look out for her when I’m wandering the shore. I wished I could join her and fly all the way Home."
Woman with dog.
"I guess my blue eyes gave me away. And the bulky Nikon on my hip probably didn’t help. Perhaps she thought I was a brash Russian spy. Or even worse, a rogue American tourist."
Now and Zen.
"With the winds of change now ripping the globe apart, no matter if you are proud, ashamed or afraid of the flag you are destined to stand under, remember that you are always free to make up your own mind. This is a right, not a privilege. And it’s sure as fuck worth fighting for."
Boy and seahorse.
"Sometimes the best you can do is to just let the camera hang on your hip, keep your head down and aim to present a moving target - one foot in front of the other - to the perpetual chaos and sensual assault."
Fuckland.
"Over time, one seems to just get used to it and go with the synthetic crystalline flow, paying precious little mind to the muddy depths beneath. It’s all about smoke and mirrors. Hair and make-up. Tits and teeth, baby."
Chenyang.
"It was late afternoon. I had a few beers up there as I was was slumping into a bluesy drunk on my lonesome while I waited for the light to give the concrete hive the perfect kiss."
The lesson of all lessons.
"And while we’re at it, we can tell the fearmongers to go fuck themselves. Life, a brief interlude between two great mysteries, is not about eluding death in its many forms. It’s about embracing the beautiful madness of existence."
Man with phone.
"Whichever way, this gent's unperturbed stare struck me as particularly bold. And incredibly vulnerable."
Dental clinic window.
"Dentists have a way of doing their thing in cubicles behind storefront windows - in full view of pedestrians crowding the sidewalks - as a way to show off their skills and attract more customers and/or patients. Oddly enough, it seems to work."
English on the side for money.
"In a way, I should be grateful. The neck ties are now hanging like limp, brightly coloured snakes, aching for a bite of my Adam’s apple, in the darkest corner of my cupboard. Let them hang, the slinky bastards."
