Category: Life and Shadow

  • Boomer Go Bye-Bye

    The fat old fucks rot in their tacky mansions
    Staring at numbers on a screen—
    Their flimsy god of no protection.

    One wrong move from an old pedo politician
    And those precious digits will evaporate;
    They’re closer to street beggars than they think.

    They’ve built lonely, suspicious lives on fear
    And the collection of meaningless shit—
    Their selfishness has made them whiny and weak.

    In the absence of true power, they throw fits
    And threaten violence like stupid children—
    They should all be smacked across the face.

    This is the world they wanted:
    A massive shit show of their own making,
    A polluted, stinking heap to mark their pathetic existence.

    When they soon pass from this mess—
    And may they do so quickly—
    The rest of us will dance in joy at their absence.

    I, for one, can’t wait to destroy their legacy.

  • Water in the Hills

    Water dripping off a rock in western North Carolina
    Water dripping off a rock in western North Carolina
    A tiny waterfall in western North Carolina
    A tiny waterfall in western North Carolina
    Water dripping off a rock in western North Carolina
    Water dripping off a rock in western North Carolina
    Mingus Mill. Cherokee, North Carolina.
    Mingus Mill. Cherokee, North Carolina.
    Porters Creek. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
    Porters Creek. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
    Cataloochee Creek. Waynesville, North Carolina.
    Mingo Falls. Cherokee, North Carolina.
    Mingo Falls. Cherokee, North Carolina.
    Mingus Creek. Cherokee, North Carolina.
    Mingus Creek. Cherokee, North Carolina.
  • Northeast Natives: Canadian lousewort

    Canadian lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis)

    I initially thought these were ferns, but they’re really clever impostors. Canadian lousewort, or wood betony, is found all over the East Coast in a wide range of habitats, although the ones shown here seemed quite happy in their cozy forest home.

    Unlike ferns, lousewort produces flowers, which are apparently quite popular with pollinators. I heartily approve.

  • Urban Life: Morning in Williamsburg

    I had to wake up insanely early for this shot a couple of years ago—in July, the sun rises at 5:30 a.m. over New York.

    I couldn’t believe how clear and haze-free the sky was that morning: just like a cold winter day.

    I found a quiet bench where someone had left a pair of sunglasses, and popped them on to watch the show.

    It wasn’t an innocent time, but the world felt less constricting then, and for a moment at least it was a little easier to catch my breath and find some optimism.

    There will be more golden days ahead, but I’m steeling myself for the long, hard slog to reach them.

    This is, after all, what I was built for.

  • Countdown

    Clock at PNC Plaza, Kansas City

    Tick-tock, tick-tock.

    The clock runs down as the dinosaurs ravage each other in a blaze of fury and spectacle,

    Looking less like the masters of an apocalypse than the two-bit players of a cheap Vaudeville act.

    The age of the fossils is belching its last noxious breaths,

    And in due course, the aging reptiles with childish dreams of domination will be swiftly forgotten

    As enough of the spectators — though not all, of course — finally admit they were never great to begin with:

    We just put stupid old monsters on the stage for our distraction.

    Then they overstayed their welcome…

    Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

    One year from now, it will be a brand-new world.

    Those who wish to control everything outside themselves won’t like it a bit,

    And the people who subsist on fear and bullshit are presently withering into their graves.

    There have been harder times than these,

    And the sun still shines its light on everyone.

    Viewed from the distance of time and space, this is but a passing moment, albeit a pivotal one.

    It’s time to dance in defiance of the doddering demons who play God so badly,

    And dare to hope for a better future.

    Azalea (rhododendron)

  • Loser

    Those who seek to suppress and dominate
    Are the ones least in control themselves —
    That truth has made itself abundantly clear.

    The only thing you can ever manage is your own soul,
    But you find that difficult, boring, and scary —
    You’d rather fuck with everyone else’s instead.

    Your toddler games fool no one:
    You are an infantile fool lost in fantasy;
    Your moral imperatives are a clear deception.

    You may distort appearances to fit your fancy
    But the laws of reality will never bend to your delusion,
    And in no way will you ever command the soul of another.

    For each life you think you’ve successfully restricted,
    Another hundred, somewhere, are defying your madness
    With their every breath and movement —
    All power to them.

    Your narcissism has been indulged for too long:
    It’s time to attend to your own demons,
    And stop playing the part to everyone else.

    As your wrath and rage have been vicious and unsparing
    I will spend the remainder of your existence
    Mocking your arrogance and lunacy in equal measure.

    The world was not made for you,
    And your life is a passing fart,
    So pull your head out of your rotting ass.

    Of course, you’re stupid to heed wisdom,
    And only in your last dying gasp are you likely to fathom
    That you utterly wasted your life on nonsense.

    Shut up and slumber, you loser titty baby.

  • We the People

    Fuck me harder, Daddy,

    I’ve been so very naughty.

    Whip me around and slap me.

    Scare the ever-loving shit out of me

    So I can feel alive.

    Tell me you’ll kill me

    With your tiny hands around my neck

    Then change your mind at the last moment,

    Because I love the adrenaline rush it gives me.

    I’m on my knees begging for you

    With tears in my eyes.

    I’m all yours, Daddy,

    Completely surrendered to your will.

    You hold my life in your hands,

    And I tremble in your powerful presence.

    I can’t do anything without you, Daddy.

    Control me like your little bitch.

    Bend me over and thrust me deeply

    Until I’m red, white, and blue.

  • Spring in Cades Cove

    Cades Cove, Tennessee
    Cades Cove, Tennessee
    American black bear (Ursus americana) at Cades Cove, Tennessee
    American black bear (Ursus americana) at Cades Cove, Tennessee
    Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) at Cades Cove, Tennessee
    Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) at Cades Cove, Tennessee
    Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church (1915). Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church (1915). Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Sanctuary of Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Sanctuary of Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Looking out a window at Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Looking out a window at Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Barn at Tipton Place. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Barn at Tipton Place. Cades Cove, Tennessee.
    Cades Cove, Tennessee
    Cades Cove, Tennessee
  • Flush It

    A bowl full of shit

    Is it a White person’s shit or a Black person’s shit? Maybe it’s the shit of a Hispanic or Asian.

    Did a woman crap it out? Or a man? What if it’s the feces of another gender entirely — such a shit show!

    Perhaps a Republican dropped this dookie, or maybe a Democrat pooped it out. What if some fucking Independent plopped it in the bowl?

    Did a fabulous, wealthy person pop their turd, or did some lowly poor churn out the butt sausage?

    Surely this is the crap of a purebred American — but what if it’s the dump of some illegal foreigner?

    No, I suspect a Christian dropped this deuce…but maybe it was a Muslim. What if an atheist did it? Dear fucking God, it’s so difficult to know.

    In the end, it’s all bullshit, and it stinks.

    Just flush the fucking toilet.

  • Piedmont Natives: Flowering dogwood

    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)

    People love dogwoods — I don’t.

    Sensitive to the changing climate and highly vulnerable to disease, dogwoods are now rapidly becoming extinct in the forests of the Southeastern United States.

    They’re also increasingly difficult to grow in even optimal conditions, and apart from the few weeks when they bloom each spring, I think they’re homely little trees.

    I do, however, mourn for the birds, pollinators, and other animals that subsist on them, and I hope they can adapt more successfully than the trees have.

    Many things will go extinct in my lifetime — the dogwood is likely one of them.

    This is my tribute.

    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
    Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)