We're redesigning.
Don't worry, we'll be back soon. xox Catherine

Bliss! A blizzard hit NYC, yep, the first real snowstorm since I moved here 6 years ago. I spent the day in Prospect Park trying out my new tripod (it only blew over once).... A day for puppies, little kids, and Canadians!

atomic garden
by Nikko

dressed in paper white and pink
restless schoolchildren and old cherry trees
surround us in the peace park


tiny ears and eyes open like blossoms
bending to the tender voice of the guide
stones rattle in our hearts


among themselves brown sparrows
quarrel for scattered seeds a baby
rabbit trembles


as we tremble now for you laid
belly-down in a hollow under the bald
moon
face boiled empty and pocketed scars
Hiroshima
stopped like a watch


through ashes a grandmother
carried her burden
a furushuki of bones


she brought her daughter back
wrapped like a gift
some parents found only buttons


all night the children swim
searching for innocence
under the lid of a dreamless lake


 

The British army is patrolling Heathrow airport; the Qawwali concert I was so excited about was cancelled because the performers couldn't get visas; and I just prepared a short list of websites on "emergency preparedness" for NYPL. But no worries here. Tim Easton plays the Village Underground next Wednesday.

P.S. My photos were accepted and are up in a group show at the Tompkins Square Library. Even though I was scared out of my wits I went to the opening, skulked around, and answered questions about the photos. For some this would be a tiny step... but for me it was huge. I am happy. And brave. And dreaming what to do next....

I took 3 photos over to Tompkins Square Library today for the NYPL staff art show. I won't find out until Wednesday if they have been accepted, so keep your fingers crossed. Two are Coney Island Holgas (thanks, Carrie) and one is of a small section of crumbly wall inside the Augustinian Academy on Staten Island. They aren't digital -- and I haven't scanned them -- so you'll just have to imagine what they look like based on the short description I submitted with them:

"I like to listen for the past in cold, lonely places - I look for broken promises in layers of concrete & graffiti, abandoned buildings, cast-off mittens, rainy days, and Coney Island in winter.

I believe that our dreams are always heard, no matter how quietly we first whispered them. I believe that the buildings remember, and will hold our secrets safe until we return for them."