Once Fallow

image by glenn buttkus

Once Fallow

“Leave a little fallow corner in your heart ready

for any seed the winds may bring.”--Henri Frederic Amiel.

I  M  A  G  E S

                           have always haunted me,

day & night; somehow

                           my recall catalog is a depository

for snapshots,

                    slides,

                            & moving pictures--

                                            & I constantly flash

                                            on memories of things seen,

                            of scenes from movies, or static

                            images posted by others, shared from every

corner of the planet        while busy at other tasks,

                                           while daydreaming,

                                           while exercising,

                                           while gardening,

                                           while meditating,

                                           while showering,

while writing/composing poetry or prose;

a never ending cavalcade, a zephyrous stream

of mental pictures; always distracting,

                                  almost maddening. 

But things changed five years ago

                 when Phil Photography

                 knocked at my door, wearing

a snappy digital suit,

a black Borsalino with a 30 mm hat brim,

                               & offered to move in with me, as

                               he made 40X promises

of joyous adventures,

               breathtaking iconography; further enhancing

                               my worth,

                               my reputation, &

                               my imagination-- said that he completely

           understood that back in the day,

when 35 mm ruled, 

when lenses were detachable,

when film had to be processed,

when walk-in closets became dark rooms,

when red lights & stinky chemicals were essential,

               that clearly I had been too poor, too insecure

                  to solicit his companionship,

                                        fellowship,

                                        stewardship,

or any other ship,           but damn my eyes          this

                    was a brand new day.

So what the deuce, on that very momentous occasion,

Philip Photography

                     came to live with me.

                                   My wife was bothered by him for a time,

                      but even she learned to tolerate his eccentricities

when she saw how happy his comradeship made me;

& wouldn’t you know it,

                       every sparkling boast of his came to pass

as squads of digital photo cards

                       filled with thousands of formerly elusive

                       images, filled dozens of digital albums

                                     blossoming brightly on hard drives,

                                     & in clouds; 

I mean every stunning place I cherished,

every quirky thing I was attracted to, began to pile up,

                        image upon image, as

                        my own vision,

                                         filters,

                                            perceptions, &

                                                  memories were all

transfered/transformed into

stark completely in-focus Photo-Art. 

I love it when Phil & I sit down

in front of my computer with the big monitor,

sipping jasmine tea while reviewing

                                road trips, forays, hikes, strolls,

                                & divers fantasies.

He has a very keen eye, & he often cajoles me

                                into pressing the Delete key

more than I want to, but hell, his standards

                 are high, & in the end I do respect that.

We have become lion tamers, 

                                tiger teammates, 

                                bear brothers,

as the wild images are sweetly caged in cyber cells

& the visiting hours are 24/7. 

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets MTB

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