Green Means Go Bryan Bigelow
Photo by Bryan Bigelow
I want to photograph a color I seem to have lost. What was it That green means? My past Once a multifoliate cityscape of lights and sounds Is now a black meadow Underexposed and silent On questions of meaning. So not that. But negation closes the divide. Stand closer to me. I can almost see you. The pavement glowed green This I remember But only as an idea A symbolism in the pavement Meaning spring, new life Springing from the clutches of the pavement Seeds cracking, heels lifting, skirts, Roots sinking, hands pushing, carts, grass-blades, thrusting, All in the mundane ecstasy of… Green means? Movement In a photographic time lapse of Seoul I once looked at Forced all that was unique and distinct Into whirling bands of saturated light Constricting the city. Yet still within, the colors multiplied. Closer now. I can feel you breathing. Somewhere within that photograph Someone rooted in the pavement Kissed me on the cheek Was it you Fair flower of the concrete? The kiss cooled my burning But the pavement was glowing red. Green means? I’ve forgotten Why I avoided slower shutter speeds I think it was so that the lights could stand out So that the movement Could escape conformity, Constriction But for what? My eyes simply trail off the edge of the photograph Into the black meadow. Green means? There it is, I’ve remembered Green means loss.
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