·:[ Stephen Vincent ]:·
• • • • •

She said she was raised by Ghosts. I have seen them there
behind the Church, thick knotted and burred branches, hardly fit for caressing.
Not knowing them - not even being able to see or talk to or touch them -
how could I, she said, be anything but terrified?

Behind the Church, riveted by the sight of her ghosts - were they parents, were they siblings? - speechless I stood. As were my comarades: tongue tied, not one movement to their heads, nor across their stiff, thick white hair.

These are the best apples - also behind the Church - much too high to reach.
Eros establishes herself by the proximity of distance. What one cannot devour
remains eternal. Who does not know her (Eros), remember her, dwell on her?
Why are so many intent on devouring the earth?

This Saturday afternoon, October 8, 2005, Noe Valley, San Francisco

Protect Yourself
Do Not Permit the Tyranny of Paranoia

BART, Transit Authority Poster, San Francisco, California
October 2005

I will be honest, the actual poster signage reads:
If You See Something Unusual,
Warn Others, Move Away and Report It

Frankly, I love to see and hear “unusual” things.
I love to alert other people to either enjoy or interpret him.
If possible - with camera or pen - I get as close as I can to the object or person.
Indeed, I also love to “report” whatever it is to one and all - who ever takes interest - what I have seen,what I have heard. Unless it’s a form of betrayal, or a breach of trust, I believe this exchange - of one’s inside with the outside - is at the foundation of a democracy. The continuous apprehension of Terror - into a state in which the primary experience is to be potentially terrorized (whether imagined or real) is the greatest danger. It would be, to exemplify, the domestication of the contemporary state of Iraq. When I see a sign as this one - where potential “Danger” becomes the core of visual experience - I fear this country is on its way down that route: the “Tyranny of Paranoia.”
Part of the good citizen job, I say, is to keep fearlessly alert to that, Paranoia and all of his or her well known companions.