Though your backyard is fenced in and/or you never let him/her out of
your sight and/or off his/her leash, your dog has gone missing. So you
post flyers on telephone poles in your neighborhood and a variety of
other places throughout the city with a photo of your dog, and a phone
number to contact you in case anybody sees him/her. Days go by, then weeks, then months - but nothing; till this very day, nothing.
Though you have countless pictures of your dog saved to your phone and, it goes without saying, photos of him/her in every room in the house, do you then retrace your steps throughout the city to count the number of remaining flyers, to see that pooch's priceless mug in a public context if only because each time you see it, you are reminded anew of the day you distributed his/her image, and how hopeful you were?
IBL:mm
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I like #5 best. The best performance art always turns us to the unspoken and the otherwise-unseen.
ReplyDeleteI like #5 best and did not know it was going to end up like that until I got to the end of #4. So nice for me to be surprised along the way...
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read, all #'s were present. I understood it to be a series or a progression or a concurrence. Each presents its own nuance. #5 has this thing where the person after having lost their pet, is slowly losing their memory in sync with the inevitable deterioration and loss of the posters.
ReplyDeleteBulletin boards or public spaces used as such are layers of time and the partially obscured thoughts of yesterday. Are we obliged to leave our contribution to the overall effect? Would it be a little too "Mayberry" or Norman Rockwell if everyone conscientiously removed their postings in a timely manner?
Thought experiment: You visit an amusement park featuring elaborate small-scale model train sets. At the beginning there is a choice. There are two separate rooms each with its own setup. You are given a one-way path that wends its way about giving everyone a view of all the detail. The door to the right takes you to an idyllic view where everything is pristine. There is apparently no crime. There is no visible litter or filth. The door to the left takes you to an amazingly detailed scenario. The train cars have graffiti. An ambulance is at a scene of an accident. People are sitting next to one another but their attention is on their phone, not on face to face conversation.
Which do you visit first? Do you bother to visit the second?
Perhaps you should write about this second scenario...?
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to send these five pieces together someplace, but not sure where yet...