Inspired By: A Series of Short Stories

The intention behind a photo is to tell a story. Any photo has the ability to communicate and occasionally a story can create a picture in your mind. Words and images together is an ultimate form of communication. Every once in awhile I will write something inspired by a photo I took and I will post it here. Enjoy!

Sad Eyed, Smiling

     Today he was going to leave her. In an effort to be calm and find distraction in anything that didn't boil the anticipation, she walked. She walked to book stores, coffee shops, to the center of downtown, and to a nearby park. Her problem was that on the way to each of these places she would see them. The tiny fragments of smiles and infatuated glances that remained from back then, hidden when they were hidden. Every corner held something that would strike a chord. The sidewalk alone absorbed nights when they walked, talked, smiled and enjoyed every beginning through an anticipated end. She wanted it all back. 

    So she continued walking, ignoring the fact that she would eventually walk to the end. Hoping she could just walk past. Hoping that the more she walked, the more the sidewalk would loosen it's grasp on her life with him and give it back. She hoped she could gather it up in her arms so that when they met she could let them topple on the ground between them and together they would pick each one apart to laugh and take in what was always theirs. Until they realized that they had run out and then would have to start walking again. The question here was, "Where?"     

     And she would say, "Anywhere. Please?" Because at that point her fear of vulnerability that she treated like a troubled companion was gone, replaced by a satirical smile and sometimes sad eyes. And this is what she imagined happening, in a mess of metaphorical imagery. She grinned as she remembered things and saw them walking towards a scene she couldn't quite make out because it was something she had never seen...

     She heard the crow, and came to. She found herself lying down, starring up, on a bench in the park. The crow screamed again, so she turned to acknowledge him. "Oh, hello. It's so nice to see you again," she said. He sad-eye-smiled, took her hand and walked away from the end. 

This is the photo that inspired the story. I took this photo as part of a portfolio set last year. You can see the full set here.