Caesar, a slave. Daguerreotype, 1851. Courtesy New-York Historical Society, copyright 2005. From exhibit "Slavery in New York." Slave burial ground
yields beads cowries bits of bone
echoes of anguish
yields beads cowries bits of bone
echoes of anguish
2 comments:
Old pictures, faces long gone,
What are the dreams of this man?
what the sound of his voice like?
the touch of his hand?
The name of his beloved?
what kind of memories does he have?
what lies behind the eyes of the man taking the picture?
How much does he see? how much does he refuse to see? What shan't be seen because of this?
Everytime the same old questions when I look at a very old picture.
Yes, me, too, Pierre. That's why I love the earliest of photographs -- ambrotypes (on glass) and daguerreotypes (on silvered copper)..
They are moments frozen in time, a heartbeat captured forever.
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