Sunday, November 10, 2013

Latent Image

Danseuse ajustant sa bretelle, 1895-96, Edgar Degas 

It develops in the bath;
smears mirror steam,
births metallic
in crumpled waves
of toothpaste tube.

I watch it thrash;
to cling to others,
push them under
and climb on top
in order to be rescued.

It does not drown;
settles under gelatin lids,
struggles to evaporate
before the fixer
dodges and burns.


tk/November 2013 


Excellent, thoughtful read by R.A.D. Stainforth...in his black and white world...


22 comments:

  1. 'it' is rather intriguing ...

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  2. Birth is hard an any medium. Not fading away is even harder. The moment here between those is such a ghostly dance ... Fine stuff!

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  4. You give her both the tenacity and evanescent grace of great dancers. (Plus, the crumpled toothpaste tube is brilliant with the image!)

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  5. the artful fixer…the struggle to appear, to be, always so difficult. Thank you.

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  6. WOW! A very different perspective.

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  7. And so another picture develops...

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  8. I used to develope photos and never thought of this. I like the steamed mirror reference! I had trouble with my Blogger site and seeing your site yesterday Tess but it looks like Google fixed it. I really enjoy writing with your group I used to write with your group some years back and am happy to see many people still here! I wasn't on G+ then but glad to be back!

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  9. Your words, as usual, so hauntingly beautiful.

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  10. Hmmm...so many things develop in the bath. An intreguing write.

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  11. I have friends who develop their own black and white negatives ... in their bathrooms. Fascinating poem revolving around the 'process.'

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  12. this takes me back to my darkroom days- I do miss the magic of developing and printing-
    Lovely words Tess!

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  13. This focus on process works well on many levels. Well done, as always.

    =)

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  14. nice one Tess....I had trouble linking up now

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  15. Unique, Tess. I love 'births metallic"

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  16. Brushing my teeth has never been so metaphysical !

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  17. Wow … I love this one
    … great read too.

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  18. Thank you for your kind comments, dear friends...

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  19. very well written and described... love it!

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  20. I used to develop film in the bathroom--your imagery caught that experience beautifully.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)