An eye for an eye
In response to Aspen Marie's First Prompt challenge
Is this transgressive?
Does the eye that I spy capture my path through the city?
Does it crack out a warning that I’m on the wrong track?
Is my focus awry if I try not to deny the other side?
Or is that for the electrified lens, the automated view?
The image shot unthinking, the hi-tech automata,
Grabbing identikit scenes like a tourist by the Tyne,
Unthinking, unknowing.
Perhaps this is the eye of creativity,
The last stand for humanity as the concrete closes in.
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The photo shows a piece of graffiti I spotted on an unlovely walkway in Newcastle-upon-Tyne while seeking bits of brutalist architecture.
This is lost territory. Nobody lingers, it’s a world of surveillance cameras and broken glass straddling a highway dedicated to machines. In a city with a preening self-image of riverside nightlife and culture, it’s a half-hidden secret.
And the sudden glimpse of beauty - and this spray-painted eye is truly beautiful - shone out at me like a flower breaking through the paving slabs.
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I wrote this in response to the First Prompt challenge by Aspen Marie. Click the link to check out the challenge, and the other entries so far.
About the Creator
Andy Potts
Community focused sports fan from Northeast England. Tends to root for the little guy. Look out for Talking Northeast, my new project coming soon.
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Comments (3)
Fascinating poem and dramatic photo/mural… good take on the challenge. I totally missed it.
It is striking for sure. Nicely captured, lens- and word-wise.
Andy, this is wonderful! Your photograph is beautiful, and the way you describe the hidden parts of the less vibrant area of Newcastle invokes an uneasy feeling. Thank you for contributing and for letting us see a hidden part of the world through your eyes.