Labor Day Combo: August 29-September 5, 2024
Labor Day Weekend falls during this week’s assignment. Document how you spend your end-of-Summer, holiday long weekend, using at least two different mediums (media?) combined into one submission - photos, original art, collage, prose, poetry, music, whatever you like.
The Submissions:
by Heart of Darkness
by Anonymous Frau Redux
Anon Frau R’s Labor Day weekend: food appreciation, family time, facilitating a move, flying back home.
The photo shows the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building as my return flight was about to land at Reagan National. (We lived in the area in the late 90’s.)
A roast beef on weck,
Pasquale’s chicken parm sub,
Maria’s Pizza
Beach walk with Ali,
From the cliff down to the bay
Calm cool clear water
Buffalo NY-
Was prepping for the trekking
To Oklahoma
Flew back home, from home
Brief stop in what was once home-
Washington D.C.
by Captain Quillard
I spent the majority of the long weekend either in the pool or at a concert by one of my favorite artists, who has recently been announcing shows at the last minute, resulting in me dropping everything for a spontaneous road trip to somewhere one, three, or five+ hours away to stand in line and see him perform (again). Saturday was my 30th time seeing him live and my third in the past four weeks, so the downtime floating in the pool was welcome.
Both things were not only fun ways to spend a holiday weekend, but some of the few experiences in life where I don’t hesitate or question whether or not I want to be participating. Floating around in cool water on a hot day and seeing great live music are both things that make me feel at peace, lost in the moment, and “myself.” I never tire of either one, either - as evidenced by the aforementioned 30 shows, as well as the fact that I was in the pool for five consecutive hours Friday and nearly seven on Sunday without getting out of the water once. Below are a couple photos and some quasi-poetry from the weekend.
The only way to do it is to
dive right in –
Find the deep end and take
the plunge,
Commit yourself fully and without
hesitation, ready to accept
whatever shock or discomfort might come
your way, but
secretly confident that none will – that
all you’ll feel as you break the surface is
pure, unalloyed
delight
To each his own, sure, but you’ve always
known the folly of the tentative,
half-assed entry – those
dipping a toe to
test the waters, or betting on a slow,
gradual descent
will always proclaim it cold and
unwelcoming, whether the
reality is a refreshing balm or the comfort
of a bathwater embrace
This, you’ve known
too well, your life pockmarked and scarred
with the regret of dives not taken – toes
not even dipped –
hesitance, worry, and invented specters
of cold and unwelcoming
situations, responses, and worlds,
betting on the slow,
gradual descent too often a
descent to exclusion
or seclusion
But not here.
Here, there is no hesitation – here
there is no maybe or if, only
how much, how often, and
for how long – here you are
weightless, held aloft by
the buoyancy and sustenance
of the waves -
waves of sound and of silence,
of solitude and of community,
of a moment in time and a moment
where time doesn’t exist, of being
someone else for a while and being
exactly who you are in your
truest self – confident. committed.
happy.
Dive right in.
Next Week’s Assignment:
Create a piece of Pop Art, using imagery from popular culture, advertising, or other familiar materials. Use whatever artistic medium you like to create your art.