On the Wing

©pralinanmi
Years ago when I finally returned to my home land...the passengers in the plane applauded and hooted as the wheels of the air craft touched earth...in double relief...I believe...that we had landed safely...and for joy at being back on native land.
No such demonstration of enthusiasm accompanied my fellow passengers upon touching ground either in New York...or Colorado...but I...nonetheless...felt relieved and thankful...
That day I arrived back in Colorado...looking up to the sky...I noticed the many clouds and realized...that a short time before...I had been high in the sky...above those clouds that I could see now from below...looking down on the patched earth through the tops of the clouds...which were moving...like the sea........

©pralinanmi

Endless Possibilities

©pralinanmi
Wow...now that I've been turned on to a new photo workshop...the possibilities are indeed endless.......

Flowers of the City

©pralinanmi
New York City has a softer side too...lush trees and vegetation lining the streets and rivers of the city...beautiful flowers...like these hydrangea lazily drapping a bench...greenness...balancing the concrete...glass...and asphalt............

Chinatown Artist

©pralinanmi
Artist at work on the streets of Chinatown NYC......................

Street Walkers

©pralinanmi

City of Giants

©pralinanmi
Among NYC's eye catchers (and yes...there are many...) are the humongous posters and billboards that adorn the sides of buildings...fences...and other miscellaneous flat surfaces. It is a profitable form of advertising...even the smallest spots are often rented out for tens of thousands of dollars a week...or more...one of the "spoils" of the city's poster wars of the past couple of decades.
In this city of giants...the skyscrapers stretch their stories to the clouds ...while the ads stretch what they're made of to the edge.
Today's photo...however...is of art...painted by hand on a building...by an unknown (to me) artist or artists....who wrapped the images around the dimensional architecture of the structure. The sheer size of the painting boggles the mind...and the detail of the work...beautiful to see...is awe inspiring.

Building Dominoes

©pralinanmi
The City stacks its buildings
like dominoes
waiting for the flick::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Beat of the Feet

The streets of New York City
pulsate
with the energy of feet
pounding
to the beat of their own sound...
a visitor had better
get with the rhythn
sooner than later
or risk being
trampled
by those who know the flow..............

In the Care of Strangers

©pralinanmi

The elders wait for time to pass
in the lost memory unit of the senior facility...
walked...or wheeled...out of their rooms
in the newness of the morning light
they are brought to the common area where
they spend their long days
lost in their minds...
often oblivious
to the comings and goings of the strangers
who are paid to care...
as I wander briefly into their lives
and they into mine
I wonder at the circumstances...
the turn of the mind
which took them to this place...
surely...their final
life's place on earth...and on
how they came to be left
in the care of strangers...
some of these before me
seem long gone
the meaning of their mumblings
known only to themselves
they ramble
within the confines of the facility to places
only they can see...
but it is the others who haunt me
those who seem resigned
to the fate which has left them
stranded in this foreign place...
the quiet light in their eyes
tells me it is neither the memories
nor the present
they have lost...
they have only retreated inward
to the times they still understand...
to the moments
which sparked their lives
before the fragmentation left them
in the care of these strangers before them........................

Love Survives The Crossing

Nainaine - October 31, 1927 * July 5, 2002

©pralinanmi
Before my sister passed...she liked to remind us that...
"love...is stronger...than death..."
These were words which my mother took to heart
and so when she too crossed to the other side
two years later
we had them inscribed on her marker.
As one year turns to another...we know...
our beloved are always there with us...
to watch over and guide our lives..........

Returnings

I journey at 35,000 feet above mother earth
and see her anew with eagle's eyes...
on the flash of wings
the journey brings me to another reality
far from the land where I now live
to a distant way of life
where mountains of rock earth and tree
are replaced by mountains of concrete and glass
and man made spires reaching tall to the sky
dwarf the natural earth and its people below...
the city which never sleeps...
this is how I think of this place...
the place of my childhood...
memories of feeling stuck in the strangeness
always well up inside and spill over
threatening to overwhelm and suffocate me...
but there is a peace
upon this return...I notice the edge is gone...
claustophobia's grip has loosened to let me be
free of the desire
to leave this place...leave the hecticness...
the constant input screaming at me nonstop
urging me to go back...go back
to my beloved mountains...return to anywhere
silent
where I can hear the earth breathe...
feel the wind blowing free...
see the wild life wandering here and there...
escape the concrete and glass reverberating
the glaring sounds of the city...
be rid of the constant crush of people moving everywhere
rushing...pushing... rubbing against me
in their haste to somewhere..................