It’s a girl!
As I waited on B St.,
New friends entered my life,
Calling me “Buddy,” asking for dimes,
Wandering off, aimlessly, but for one–
A small lady with staring eyes–
Who mumbled, three feet from me,
And stared, three feet from me,
And mumbled and stared
And mumbled and stared,
Stared and mumbled
As I replied “I don’t know,
I don’t know, I don’t know”
To her monologue unintelligible
And wondered how she came
To this place,
Embracing her coffee cup,
Mumbling at strangers,
With no place to go
After such a promising start
As the apple of her mother’s eye.
Bruce Roberts, 2010
Bruce Roberts is a poet, sculptor, and schoolteacher from Hayward, California – and the winner of the 2010 Hayward Poetry Slam! He may be reached at brobe60491@sbcglobal.net.
Jon McNeal is a photographer and architect from San Francisco, California.
STATEMENT FROM THE ARTIST:
“My act of interpretation is in highlighting the unusual, absurd, or sublime in a place or object as found, whether it has formed naturally or been heavily shaped by human activity. What fascinates me most is that understanding that everything in my photographs is in transition, whether large or small in scale. Holding a moment still with an image is a key means of identifying and defining that momentum of change. My hope is that the forces that drive the metamorphosis of the subject are brought to light by holding it still for a moment and observing that instant carefully. We look for clues to its past and future, while perhaps glimpsing a bit of our own.”
Website: www.jonmcneal.com
Contact info: jon@jonmcneal.com