Standing Strong between Rocks and Hard Places
by Aberjhani
Title
Standing Strong between Rocks and Hard Places
Artist
Aberjhani
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
One day on one of my urban walkabouts in the southeastern United States, I came across this palm tree growing between the brick wall of a former laundromat and the sidewalk. It immediately reminded me of an old saying I used to hear when growing up: “Caught between a rock and a hard place.” People in my neighborhood often said it after making the painful discovery they were short on funds when time came to pay their monthly rent or other bills and they were uncertain how they were going to get the needed cash. They usually found a way.
Palms trees grow all over southeastern Georgia so they are not uncommon. However, finding one standing this tall, about 25 feet, in such a tight space between a brick wall and a sidewalk is not so typical. In the story, “Trees Down Everywhere,” published in the book Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, I wrote about how many of them had been uprooted and destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. This particular palm tree obviously stood strong and survived. For it, growing beside the wall had provided the kind of protection wearing facemasks provides for human beings in these COVID-19 days.
Seeing the tree reminded me of how billions around the world are digging deep within themselves to find the resilience necessary to stand strong against the COVID-19 pandemic until the promised vaccines are available to everyone. With the loss of more than a million lives worldwide to the coronavirus, the year 2020 has seen humanity as a whole caught between some painful rocks and hard places. We’ve leaned on each other at an appropriate social distance to pull through some hard harrowing times. That unified effort, as with the palm tree in this image partnering with a brick wall, is what likely will make all the difference between continuing anguish, or eventual triumph, in the months ahead.
Aberjhani
https://www.author-poet-aberjhani.info/
Harlem Renaissance Centennial
Creator of Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle
author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Uploaded
November 21st, 2020
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Viewed 337 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/24/2024 at 7:14 PM
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Comments (6)
Aberjhani's Official Postered Chromatic Poetics
I appreciate that Sean. This palm tree certainly does make one consider such an "infinity of possibilities."
Sean Terrence Best
Truly it is a lovely scene of the intricacies of nature to be found amid an infinity of possibilities.
Angeles M Pomata
This is a stunning photo, Aberjhani!! LOVE the amazing composition, atmosphere, and texture of this formidable piece. L/F
Aberjhani replied:
Thanks tremendously Angeles. I was pretty stunned when I first saw the tree and couldn't resist photographing it.