Untitled #1

We have ways of exposing tender skin
at the most inopportune time only to find
white scars blending into the pigment.

Long grasses moving against the wind
create hollow sounds of running water
the din of city traffic is washing out. 

We have ways of pulling ourselves into tight knots
in the early hours before dawn only to find
unraveling threads being picked apart by nervous fingers. 

The crowding bodies impose themselves
and young girls with round eyes look helpless
against the tide, they slowly blend in and fade.


We have ways of staring at dark matter
and not even notice that we've lost parts
of ourselves in the sky-spanned tango.


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These pieces are all in their draft phase...the next ten need to tweaked.
Also working on titles. 





All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

The Highline in NYC

The day was overcast with billowy clouds above. The wind picked up and the long grasses rubbed against each other creating the sound of falling water. Groups of tourist walked around in packs, moving and looking in the same direction. Sounds of foreign tongues scattered amid the traffic noises wafting from the West Side Highway. 

Red nettles and yellow flowers interrupted the greens and browns of the brush. The concrete rounded up to prevent humans for trespassing past the path. Folks tripped over and over again not noticing the edges. 

One place beneath a building there was an intersection between the planned beauty of the landscape juxtaposed against the crumbing walls of a building in disrepair or construction. Red exposed bricks behind netting. Careful to cover the ugly from prying eyes. There was beauty in that exposed raw wall.

The underbelly of this concrete plane and this metal scaffolding holding up this natural element, there are layers of humanity and nature, hand over hand, creating spaces, to live amongst the natural world in this urban environment. We appropriate natural landscapes, delineate space, keep on the prescribed path and then wonder why we trip over raised edges. Our natural inclination is to get closer.

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Compression

We are in the land of wandering vagabonds
compressed upon each other
disintergrating into the earth
while Jupiter watches on.

We are unstable when our footpaths
lead downward into the gaping mouth
of screeching beasts that snake
underground; only forward momentum.

A current of bodies carrying flint
in pockets, tinder-flame sparks
light the way, a grain of salt
in a concrete land, reaching skyward.

A current of electricity, lighting matches
combustible air, we can only move forward;
the past has already disappeared
down the throats of stark seagulls.

We are in the land of twilight
waiting behind glass for protection
if we do not bend, we break.
Let the waters wash over us.

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2009 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.