Spiritual Thin Spots

Here's our third ekphrastic (poetry based on art) collaboration: Lynette's photography and my poetry. We'll each share the whys and wherefores related to what we saw and how we responded.

Photo: Lynette

While walking back to my car at a local shopping center, I glanced over at a restaurant patio. It was late on a brutally warm Arizona summer day and the sun was getting low in the sky. The sunlight emphasized the swirling mist which caught my eye. I grabbed my camera and started taking photos of the mist swirling, shifting, changing. People sat, servers moved through, all oblivious to the mist that took over the patio making it possible for them to be outside.

Poetry: Keith

While I knew Lynette's shot was from Arizona...stepping back from the photo, literally using distance as a perspective changer--the shapes, the shadows, the mist moved me to Southeast Asia: Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos--a small side street cafe in an exotic setting where people gather for a moment to be fed in the midst of contexts much greater than could be comprehend. 

That thought drove me down an even crazier rabbit trail of "mist" representing "mystery" which led me from people being fed food to people starved for spiritual nourishment. The journey of life. "Pilgrims on a trail" translated the mist/mystery into clouds of pungent incense, exotic aromas, quiet voices, and suddenly we were gathered before the altar in an ancient temple. The waiter, standing and moving in the mist, became a priest, a monk, a wise one, an intercessor, a trusted guide to move people from where they were--to where they wanted, desired, hungered to be. 

To enjoy a video of our combined project, 

click HERE.