Sunday 8 January 2012

Anachronism x Two



Image: Lee Friedlander



Why do you stand there,
looking down your nose at me;
in your fancy coat and knee breeches,
hands folded piously.
What are you doing in this world
of tall buildings, 
traffic fumes,
eyeless windows,
flashing images and
bleached skies.
This is my world,
your day has long gone.
Standing on your pedestal,
lifeless and immobile,
your presence here forgotten, overlooked, 
frozen in time,
with birds alighting on your shoulders
your only company.
What use are you.
You're nothing but a memory.




Why do you hang there,
beetle-browed and scowling down at me,
your shiny head
and pale visage
depicted on a poster.
No pedestal for you.
You're here today and gone tomorrow,
 the next-in-line already 
waiting in the wings,
as easily replaced as you.
I once was real, a man of flesh and blood,
you're nothing but a made-up storyline,
a flickering image on a silver screen,
unreal, pure invention.
My place in history is safe, 
I shall be standing here
until the cityscape itself comes to an end.
My shoulders will provide a perch for birds 
from which to sing,
When you are but a memory.




   

48 comments:

  1. Fantastic!

    My esteemed Friko, you've a gift for capturing both the enduring and the absurd -- and, I suppose, that which is comprised of both.

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  2. One of those images that makes one think - but it takes your gift to put the thought into something thought-provoking. Loved it!

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  3. Wonderful, Friko. You see so many things others might miss, and say so much in so few words. I constantly admire your skill.
    K

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  4. totally amazing,,i am in awe!! x

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  5. A clever way of not saying the obvious. It takes great talent to do that. Great verse Friko!

    Hank

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  6. Oh I do like that, Friko! The shock of the unexpected and the turning of tables. Wonderful.

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  7. you are nothing but a made up storyline...and i used to be a real man...nice pairing of lines...there are some days i wonder if i am not in someones storyline...smiles.

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  8. Hilarious take on the prompt. Love it! Something that I never would have thought of. :)

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  9. Oh, this is rich! The photograph is splendid, yet I do believe you've topped it with your verse. Brava!

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  10. He/She/It may be of no use, but still around the corner or up the block i fear. Dianne

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  11. Wonderful, Friko! This read to me like a conversation; two men, each full of himself, boasting and strutting. You are an amazing writer and poet. Well done.

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  12. Dear Friko,
    Topsy-turvy that's what you do to the misconceptions and preconceptions that I bring to the photograph. Thank you.

    Your post made me wonder about a world in which all the posters and statues and buildings and cars--those things that seem to have no voice--must be speaking to one another with sounds that I cannot hear and words that remain hidden to me. An alternate Universe in which inanimate things play out their life. A strange thought prompted by your words.Thank you for that also.

    Peace.

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  13. WOW Friko!!!! Very well done! Loved it!

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  14. hmmm. I don't know about you, but I loved Yul Brynner in The King and I. He is an icon and that role was his to keep. Enjoyed the "conversation" between the two men.

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  15. I don't know why I have this or who gave it to me but I have a picture of Yul in da nude. Magnificent.
    I love your take on these symbolic relics.
    XO
    WWW

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  16. Maybe , somewhere , there's a statue of Yul Brynner overlooked by a poster to an exhibition about the life and times of Statue Man ?

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  17. i didn't even know there was a statue of Yul Brenner!

    Seriously - excellent poem

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  18. So clever and excellent!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  19. Excellent observations on life Friko.

    Anna :o]

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  20. excellent- you make me smile with your cleverness!

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  21. I enjoyed reading that and I loved the picture. Good work, Friko!

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  22. Fact confronting fiction, in a variety of ways!

    Kudos to you, and also to the photographer who first saw, and snapped!

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  23. That's a brilliant piece of work along side the photo :)

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  24. just a big big stare down, that's what i say

    days of cohan

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  25. ...and neither one noticed, day in, day out, by the people living their daily lives...

    You've grasped something here that not everyone would touch.

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  26. Dishy. I oohed and ahhed over this one.

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  27. A very nice conceit. Well done.

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  28. Neither of them seems particularly happy, though;-)

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  29. So... even on paper or in bronze we (humans) still want to pick a fight? Not a nice thought. Makes a nice post though ;-)

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  30. Yul Brenner can't last past another generation, but, oh!, this one is gloriously stuck with him.

    Very strong, Friko.

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  31. Original and imaginative piece.

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  32. Thanks. This left me sparking with some new ideas. ~Mary

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  33. Great take on these two men hanging "up high", Friko.

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  34. You've taken verbal sparring to a new level ...

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