Full circle

Art in the age of mechanical reproduction is not without its joys and its challenges. We have here seven still shots of an eagle flying over the lake, seven in a series categorizing its pattern of flight. Visualize, imagine, and consider the possibilities of zoetropes, the camera obscura, and the works of Eadweard Muybridge. Words and images at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Zootrope

If we were turning
in a perfect cambric
circle -- you and I
cut out of sky
like God's own missives,
jet like letters
countered against the rest --
if we were auspices
sent to tag the vastness
into shaping a formality,
we are doing our best;
with each gesture alluding
to the next, creating semblance
of totality.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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Into the woods

Hunting is one of those issues that divides a lot of people: is it right or wrong to hunt overpopulated creatures like deer and black bears, which can be a nuisance to humans? We visit the Mighty Moose river in the Adirondacks and observe some hunters at their task while pondering the question. Words and images at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Pursuit

Flak-footed
gray as grim
to light less
upon the crisp furze --
hardly hear it crackle --
in the steaming distance
there might be a flash
of feather or tail.
How to limp that
buttress over one shoulder
without firing a charge
and hobble home,
should the morning prove
an utter rout?

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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Seeing double

Every once in a while, I go back to an image and find a whole new way of looking at it and writing about it. This shouldn't be so surprising; after all, writing is a process, and all writing is really re-vision. Thinking about this, along with some discussion of Francis Bacon...words and images at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Uno momento

Broken and stemmed
as the functionless base
of the delft-blue
Caravaggio,
there is no pink in you,
no life, no whelp
of joy --
in seizing your spartan
limb I capture
only the harsh bronzed
emblem of a bereft moment
I thought I had left behind.
I see it follows me like
 a shackle on one foot,
like a bruise
that will not heal.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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Ancient and modern

Every which way, and no one is sure which way to go. It's sometimes difficult to negotiate the chaos of modern spaces, like the mall, just as it was probably difficult to negotiate the chaos of ancient spaces like the agora of Athens or the labyrinth even. Some of us have better tools than others, and we can help those who have less means. A little holiday thinking, some photos and commentary -- blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Agora

Every
which way --
I don't know where to go.
No familiar sign points
the direction of home,
and here only callow leaves
frank their minion paths
and never offer true assistance.
In more modern places,
there is a similar loss
of locational nuance --
where am I? which way
have I come from just now? perhaps
it is best to follow a trail
that's left in twine or to lay down in the center
in a sheaf of ferns
going at all directions
so that upon waking
I may pluck the nearest one
and follow only that
to safety.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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If a tree Falls in the forest...

What creates the magic of the trees in fall? Is it their colors or the fact that we will miss them when they're gone, that we miss the green of summer? Exhibit A: four magical photos of fall in the Adirondacks, almost as if they had sprung from Dutch paintings. Read and see more at blog.amynelsonhahn.info

Tree magick

No one told you
to hurry up and prepare the way --
the time comes when
the time comes already,
and you are merely
in the right place,
by chance or by design
no one's the wiser.
A mountain whispered
in my ear that you
were late to bed and late
to rise; is it true?
I'd have to say that you
put up for all appearances
a pretty nice front --
the even-tempered sort,
the kind of honest sport
one likes to get to know.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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(Snow)Fall before winter

You mean snow before winter? Snow -- not frost -- on the pumpkin? Snow before Halloween? Yes, that's just what we had around the Hudson Valley of NY. Some photos of the fall foliage with snow on the ground should be enough to convince -- sometimes the seasons do meet in strange ways. More sights and sounds at blog.amynelsonhahn.info, and happy halloween!

Felded wise

Who knows how long ago
it was the snows came
so fast so early,
burrowing their felted mitts
their tilted spirals
and endless spiky gyres
amidst the coppers and glares
of half past harvest?
It lilts our insides just a bit,
to see it so transcribed --
the seasons so rudely
overlapped
like amber
resting astride
an ancient vein,
treasured
yet oddly contained.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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Piece of mind

At the side of the railroad tracks, a thousand milkweed pods send silky reminders that winter is coming -- is it really that long ago that we started this blog? Yes, we've done two hundred blogposts now. Time to reflect a bit, with the help of W.H. Auden. Photos and commentary at blog.amynelsonhahn.info, and a big thank-you to all our faithful readers!

Sail
(Milkweed clouds)

Like vespers on the breeze
that have a silent mission
to find the one whose heart
their message most will soothe,
they loft and gather height
and drift, perplexing a child
who sits alone and seeks to lift
a humble hand to douse one
like a flame --
still they wander, light as flies,
and toss along the evening's
sultry skies until they pivot,
sense the climate's best arrangement
and down fall seedlings to their repose.
So like whispers in your dreams
they've walked a thousand miles
before you've said a word,
and that so hastily
you barely catch its breath.
Their message will most please
and drift, to prepare us all
who dream alone
and rest in humble hands,
the only peace that's left.

Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn

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