Category: Poiesis

by jad

A Place for Grief

Last week, I watched someone pour ashes by a bench at this park. I’d noticed her sitting with an older woman with a bright purple bouquet next to them that caught my eye, and within seconds, she got up and started pouring out the ashes from a small plastic baggie. My heart skipped a beat like I’d encroached on a private moment, but there was no helping it; I was seated in the car parked right next to them. I was sharing this moment, whether I’d planned to or not. I said a silent prayer as we peeled away. Eventually, … Continue reading “A Place for Grief” →

by jad

Muse

“The word muse comes to mind.” That’s what a friend said in response to this video when I shared it in my stories, which sparked a conversation about the muse—her supposed passivity and historical exploitation. “Being called a muse is high praise, but a beautiful object can be a muse too.” But a partner participates in the work—“the work,” which is in itself merely active collaboration with everything around us. Nothing to extract. Nothing to contain. Everything to gain.

by jad

Water

Cosmically, they say I’m meant to be by bodies of water, but I never was much of a beachgoer, preferring the cool of the mountains over the oppressive heat down below. I figured it was more metaphorical—like I’m meant to be hobnobbing with the coastal elite, wherever they may be. But the amount of joy I’ve been feeling from being a stone’s throw from Lake Washington is changing my mind. Here’s our neighbor Chuck, the beaver, doing his daily laps. I don’t know if it really is the same beaver every day; all beavers are now Chuck, just like all … Continue reading “Water” →

by jad

Do Your Cameras Have Names?

Another thing we found while packing up our old place was Christine’s ultracompact digicam from 2014, the Canon PowerShot ELPH 340 HS, aka IXUS 265 HS in other markets. Here are a couple of shots I took on my way back from work today, all unedited and straight out of the camera. The story of how Christine came into possession of this camera that we’d all but forgotten about is pretty cool; in the months before she figured out how she was going to pull off packing up and moving all the way to join me in Lebanon—itself a minor … Continue reading “Do Your Cameras Have Names?” →

by jad

Disposable Memories

I found a disposable Kodak camera while packing up our old apartment that I must have had stuffed in a backpack or something, because it expired in 2014, four years before I moved to Seattle. I have no memory of buying it (was it in the UK?) and after taking a couple of shots with it, I realized that I had only ever taken two frames after I got it. So I used up the rest as we shuttled back and form, half expecting the roll to be completely nonviable—I mean, the thing endured a heat dome and possibly several … Continue reading “Disposable Memories” →

by jad

Liminal Time

I’m writing this post on my phone in an almost completely bare bedroom with spackling on the wall in front of me covering up the many holes Christine drilled there, being the handy Andy that she is; she’s leaving the place better than we found it. We’ve been alternating several nights separately, staying here and in our new place to make sure our more sensitive cat has time to acclimatize by herself, while not leaving our more spunky one alone for too long. And all of this shuttling back and forth, packing and unpacking, sweeping and spackling, is happening on … Continue reading “Liminal Time” →

by jad

Hello, Madison

This is the first official post from our new place’s Wi-Fi, now lovingly called “LakeStinko,” after the regional lore. It took the Comcast guy a couple of tries to hook us up this morning because the wiring was so shoddy, and the previous tenants were either offline luddites or used something else completely. I took these shots on the same roll that Christine was using in the Nikon Lite-Touch. This was near the second apartment we viewed before we found this one. We were seduced by the amenities and soaring views, but the price they sent us later that day … Continue reading “Hello, Madison” →

by jad

God’s Eye

“You seem to like minimalism. Or you try to make things look more minimal.” “Your pics kinda feel like a god’s eye view. I guess if the god roamed the earth because it was curious to witness people.” Two different people shared their insights into my photos the other day, which made me reflect on my photographic eye a bit more. It seems not unlike my writing style. I try to express myself effectively and economically, with a high impact to investment ratio. That’s probably where the minimalism comes from. But it’s more than just that; in both modalities, I … Continue reading “God’s Eye” →

by jad

Goodbye, Cascade

This strip of human existence by the urban wound that is I-5 has been a significant part of my Seattle experience since before I moved to this country, so I wanted to capture and keep some of it in our last weeks in the neighborhood. One of the first things we did once we moved here is set up our Wi-Fi to say “CascadeNotSLU,” and that’s all you need to know about how we feel about the neighborhood. We’ve seen this block go through many changes over the past six years, but the general rule with only one singular exception, … Continue reading “Goodbye, Cascade” →

by jad

Christine’s Camera

We took these in the same spots we did our first headshots together for Christine’s website when I first got my Fujifilm XT4 and I barely knew what I was doing. This time, I used Fujifilm 35mm and Christine’s new vintage SLR—you read that right, Christine’s been bitten by the shutter bug too! Here she is with my Nikon Lite-Touch. But she’s now the proud owner of a quirky little beast we found for an absolute bargain that she wanted me to be the first to test drive: a 1971 Sears TLS straight outta the Christmas catalog. Swipe to see … Continue reading “Christine’s Camera” →