I have no recollection of this time. It wasnt mine, it isn't mine. I can speculate the era it was stolen from, and I can piece together the lives of these two with my imagination and my thumb. The only solid story I can write includes Sonoma County and a photographer names Paul Strahm. I've always loved the name Paul which is odd as its my bastard Fathers name. I could google a Paul Strahm but what fun would that be? I found this photo a few years back, tucked into another forgotten drawer in a stack of beautiful forgotten photos. Someone had died and all his or hers possessions had been donated, atleast the mementos nobody wanted. But I wanted this photo and its hung thumbtacked to a collaged wall in whatever house I've lived in since. Its a haunting photo. The relationship of these two is difficult to read, are they husband and wife? Brother and Sister? Why does she look so much older than he? Is it in her shapeless dress and pulled back hair? His suit is nice and fits well, he has a hankerchief in his breast pocket. Her glasses are gold-rimmed, her ears sit low. He looks impossible upon first glance, but his eyes aren't that scary. Who knows who these people are. Who knows why they mean so much to me, and why I hang this photo near me wherever I am. Do you like this photo? What do you think of it?
1 comment:
i think this couple has a love we'll never a know. a type of love specific to their time period. it may be forced, it may be real, it may not be love at all. we cannot know who they knew, what they bore, what they did; but we can know what they knew of each other. their glare is a product of the technology that was available, but their space says so much more: their bodies are touching. there is no space between them.
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