The Black-and-White of It All
A moody, randomized amble across states & states of mind | march19.2023
photos & text by douglas john imbrogno
Aren’t we forever being told ‘CAUTION‘? And that ‘This Door Must Be Kept Closed’? Those are often the best doors to open. Ones kept shut by the people with a vested interest in keeping them closed.
‘Must Be.’ | Alleyway, St. Albans, W.Va. | September 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
I wonder, sometimes, whether the cruciform, outstretched arms of the cross have more to do with tossing an incipient hug into the world’s skies. Myself, I prefer the coruscating froth of leaping water.
‘Water Works.’ | Barboursville, W.Va. | September 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
Whose dreams were dreamt of what behind these broke doors & windows? Now, I can’t recall the turn in the road I made, outback of some desolated West Virginia town where this was snapped.
‘Posted.’ | Eastern West Virginia, somewhere. | July 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
Someone’s Over-the-Rhine outing in Cincinnati one cold February day. The stoop tequila is ‘Lunazul,’ which maybe translates ‘Blue Moon.’ A finger of booze in the plastic cup like they are coming back.
‘What You Will Have.’ | Cincinnati, Ohio. | February 2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
The solitary figure in the corner. The stranger who could be a friend. The person to leave alone as you prefer to be alone when in a corner of solitude. The other person who may be a saint or sinner, like the rest of us.
‘Working Out.’ | Mea Cuppa, Charleston, W.Va. | February 2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
I turn my camera towards the Earth one cool January day out in the marsh. Find a tangle of dry growth. Thoughts tangle up like this. Yet, out here, it all looks untangled. Like how it’s supposed to be.
‘Growth Pattern.’ | Hoeft Marsh, Greenbottom, W.Va. | January 2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
What will last of all our works, we humans making works? Look up, the best ceilings in the best churches, these will last awhile, sure. Until, like all else, they, too, diminish, disappear & glory-fade.
‘Up, Up and Away.’ | First Presbyterian Church Marsh, Charleston, W.Va. | June 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
We singer-songwriter types jones hard for your attention. Probably still chasing our high-school rockstar dreams even as we grey or stay put. Here’s the best harmony or lick I can offer. May it be good enough.
‘Next Up.’ | Coal River Coffee Company, St. Albans, W.Va. | September 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
We spend much of our lives waiting around with other people, don’t we? The blessing or curse is with whom we find ourselves waiting. May they be interesting, not tedious. Worth, actually, sharing our moments.
‘Jim’s Women.’ | Huntington, W.Va. | November 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
Should I be trying to save some portion of the world right now? Yes, of course. But let me prep this cigar. Read the NYRB and finish this wine. Then, I will be good to go, again.
‘Eyes on the Prizes.’ | Huntington, W.Va. | October 2022 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photo
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What a gorgeous selection of photos! Thanks for publishing and amplifying them. A couple remind me: I used google maps to bring up a pic of the little frame house where my family lived till I was five in a WV river town. Not only did that house no longer exist, neither did the brick duplex nextdoor where grandparents lived, nor the brick house the owner of both had built on the far side. A cousin confirmed what google maps showed at those addresses: As a neighborhood beautification project, a vestpocket park had replaced the half-block of houses.