on my seventh birthday
dad teaches me how to fire a rifle cleanly
piercing targets dead centercold blue-black bullets
smacking and puncturing
the pink skin of innocent balloons
unassuming pepsi cans
makeshift bulls-eyes scribbled on pizza boxesi fire
dropthegunanddash
to admire the wounds i made
bubblegum rubber shriveled like terrible skin
shiny aluminum torn by a pointed head
cardboard corpses flaunting their battle woundsdad says “all you do is pretend
the target is something you hate.”i think of fractions
with mismatched bottoms that i can’t add
i think of tiffany-know-it-all
the slim blond at school who calls me whale girl
i think of dad
i fire cleanly- Michelledion Matthews
from Words Dance 3, Winter 2003
(Source: tinaremine)
If I were to sit in this chair
laughing
when you come into the room
you would think it odd—funny
but go on about your business
cocking your puzzled facebecause there is no reason for my sitting here laughing
I am not laughing
But if I were to sit here
weeping
when you come into the room
you would shy away
from my breaking heart
as much as to say Why do you do thisNow I hear you coming down the hall
I do not know whether I will laugh or cry
Your key inserted in the lock—Ron Padgett, “Gene Lockhart’s Locket”
Art Credit Lisa Kereszi
(Source: duncanskiles)
Humane Slaughter for Modern Farmer Magazine.
Stories like this are the reason I became a photographer in the first place. I love getting pushed outside my comfort zone and experiencing something totally outside of my normal realm of existence. I am so thankful to Ayanna Quint for this assignment exploring “Humane Slaughter” at the amazing Prather Ranch in Northern California. Full project here. Of all the assignments i’ve ever had, this was by far the most gnarly and I am very proud of it. As somebody who was a vegetarian for several years, this was a really important thing to see. I always talk like “as long as I “know” where the meat came from, I’m ok with it.” Well, now I really KNOW where this meat came from…
Thanks to Damien for the help on the assignment as well. I know that wasn’t super easy…
***I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW GRAPHIC THIS PROJECT IS. YOU”VE BEEN WARNED. ***
(Source: otisls)
