Category Archives: Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “On the fence”

Winter can never be fenced in.

Winter can never be fenced in.

In winter, Illinois is an ugly place. The dead flatness of the land does nothing to defy the oppression of the clouds as they thunder over farms. The trees that in summer sheltered houses and creeks and fence rows with their leaves now try to hold back the swollen winds, their empty limbs shifting and clacking like old bones in a weather-beaten box.

My wife keeps a postcard. It shows a sky of bruised purple-gray, an earth that is almost not there, and in the foreground leans a weathered fence with the abbreviation “ILL” painted in black. She’s from Illinois. Why she keeps it, I don’t know. Maybe the foreboding in the picture and the twisted humor of the abbreviation for the Land of Lincoln speak to something in her soul. It only makes me want to shake my head. I don’t understand the picture. Then again, I don’t understand my wife.

Rain drops splattered against the windshield. I turned on the wipers and rolled up my side window. Traveling seventy miles-an-hour on Interstate 74 did nothing to improve the look of rainy rural Illinois. Traveling to a funeral was doing even less.

–Opening paragraphs from the story “A Sip of the Moon” by David E. Booker

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Heads up”

Inspiration can come from anywhere -- even someone else's photo.

Inspiration can come from anywhere — even someone else’s photo.

Heads up

Oh no, many heads will roll
After these twenty years so droll.
After ten their eyes rolled back
And such they uttered: “Poor ol’ sad sack.”

She married wild and much too early
And outside her station, “Oh, most surely.”
There is very little we can do now
Except shake our heads and wonder how.

She’s stuck around like a head on a pike.
She has given him pain, but much delight.
But the naysayers still shake their heads
As if that’s all that need ever be said.

Oh no, many heads still roll
After these twenty years so droll.
After ten their eyes rolled back
And such they uttered: “Alas and alack.”

He’s such a goofball, they did deride
And these were friends on his side.
“He’s weird and crazy and even a dope.”
Still she never once gave up hope.

These twenty years have been quite heady
Even those that weren’t quite steady.
The days have passed in the blink of eye
Even for eyes perched way up high.

Each moment has been like a stone
In building a castle called a home.
Few are left who say nay to them
And their chances grow ever slim.

Oh no, all those heads will roll
And that rolling will take its toll.
Heads now are perched high up on lances
With eyes blank, no longer giving glances.

–poem by David E. Booker

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Filed under 2016, Photo Finish Friday, poetry by author

Photo finish Friday: “Mirror, mirror….”

The world, beheld in a mirror.

The world, beheld in a mirror.

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Filed under 2016, Photo by Lauren Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Stack ’em high”

A stack of pallets that would be taller than the car if placed beside it.

A stack of pallets that would be taller than the car if placed beside it.

Held in place with the luck of one strap. Not sure this is speed hump worthy.

Held in place with the luck of one strap. Not sure this is speed hump worthy.

The things you find in your neighborhood on a Friday morning. Parked on the wrong side of the road, too far away from the curb, but those pale in comparison to what is strapped to the top and held in place by a single strap. There were child seats in the car. Two of them. I only hope the children aren’t riding in the car when it eases away from curb and over the speed hump that awaits it, about where the orange cone sits in the lower photo. Maybe the car stopped because of the speed hump. What story or scene could you make of these photos?

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Broken door, broken promise”

"Knock, knock. Welcome wagon."

“Knock, knock. Welcome wagon.”

Who will be unlucky enough to enter the abandoned house? And why did she enter?

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Park it”

Sometimes, before you can play in the park, you have to work in it a little.

Sometimes, before you can play in the park, you have to work in it a little.

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Faded Glory”

An old house; a new flag. The problems and the promises run deep.

An old house; a new flag. The problems and the promises run deep.

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “The kick”

Sometimes you get a kick out of life.

Sometimes you get a kick out of life.

What do you see in this photo? Describe it.

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Pretty in other than pink”

Rubber Eraser Day: not just pink parallelograms anymore. With a large enough eraser, what would you "rub out" in your past?

Rubber Eraser Day: not just pink parallelograms anymore. With a large enough eraser, what would you “rub out” in your past?

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Filed under 2016, photo by David E. Booker, Photo Finish Friday

Photo finish Friday: “Stop by a creek”

A creek in early Spring.

A creek in early Spring.

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Filed under 2016, Photo by Lauren Booker, Photo Finish Friday