Thursday, January 8, 2015
Junkyard 1 week one
At the base of the alley outside my house, there's a spray-painted picture of the word happiness in white and a blue box around it, filled in. Above the word happiness, a third grade image of a house: the box with a triangle perched on top. Underneath the whole thing, a quote: "if you want something in life, reach out and grab it." Three dots underneath, right justification. Turning around, cars line the street, parked and sitting pretty like the Pomeranian yapping just inside the window of the 60-somethings who are watching this dog while their daughter prances around Europe with her boyfriend. A Jeep Grand Cherokee still spotted with melted skittles, the revenge of an ex-lover, cruises slowly past me, a hat tipped to acknowledge me. A pigeon squawks somewhere behind me.
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Taylor-
ReplyDeleteI love when writers look around them and stop to write about such idiosyncrasies as what you have posted here...the spray painting on the base of the alley wall... I find that image so interesting and poignant, and I love the fact that you simply present it to the audience, without trying to sentimentalize it or assign it specific meaning. It speaks for itself, as I'm sure you realize. I also appreciate how you've illustrated some of the surrounding area/neighborhood, particularly with the yapping dog and the "60-somethings" who you are watching it. It conveys tension, though in a subtle way. It speaks to a type of discord or dissatisfaction... unhappy home lives, domestic strife hidden away behind walls.
I feel like you could go many different ways with this "junkyard," whether in poetry or prose. Whether you saw this spray painting in your actual life or invented it, I like that you did your job as a writer- and stopped to record it. I would say that this image is a poem waiting to be written...especially since the painting is a piece of art in itself, though on a much smaller scale, in a more casual way...(given that it’s probably technically vandalism).