my neck of the woods ...

Those old building look sad with no one working in them. Says a lot about the state of the country I think.

isnt this sad? There was a building like this in Almonte Ontario and they converted it into apartments..
What a beauty..
rated with hugs

the clock tower now resides over converted apartments.
across the way are more converted apartments.
still it's a sad vibe.

A sad tribute. Thank you.

Beautiful and bittersweet photo essay.

I loved this.

Enjoyed. Lots of these in my old neighborhood outside Philly. Thanks for this Chuck.

some of these photos are oddly familiar to me...
ha ha ha...
.....................................................
"their toil
destiny's fine fabric ", these ageless workers of which you speak.

Indeed. ... for decades these structures held near-holy status,
the center of a universe,
and from i've heard,
an ambivalently
beneficial one.

Proletariat well-treated by mega-rich family,
given housing & free schools & whatnot
in exchange for mechanical slavery,
to provide silk velvet & wool for
a world that needs to be clothed.

Sure it's sad, but it's also funny & symbolic,somehow:
i hear it's rather a swinging community, yuppies
hooking up...a singles' joint...
maybe i'm wrong...i would love
to think so, though...

the bricks might be having a good time these days.
when they are finally torn down (not in your lifetime or mine)
what a story they will have to tell.

Plus, this place is close to "Westown",
where they treat you right.
You gotta trust westown, hm

My father, fading into dementia, used to say,
"Jim! As a young teacher here in town, i got a summer job
filling the candy machines for the workers!
They all called me 'the candy man' "

2 minute zip out to 384 and you can get anywhere in the universe.
..................................................
not forgotten yet, these bricks.
Sure,alot of toil and sweat,
but that's what made
this magnificent metropolis
what it is...

like your new picture, by the way...
the beard is absolutely working for you..
add the glasses & the receding salt & pepper hair,
and you are our poet laureate, no doubt.

Glad you got your hands on a camera &
figured out how to post photos.

Dear Chuck A. Stetson;

i believe i will go look up some stacks tomorrow

:: note for emmerling when he comes back;
come out west and find an old stump farm
(cit. Gary Snyder, Old Stump Farms)
with camera you are going to buy; same as
was used first out here.

,

Great photos Chuck, though they're melancholy. I'm reminded of some lyrics from a James McMurtry song:

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

A scape which is part captured and part museum is a place worthy of connecting dots. The poet freely goes there.

Oh the history.....
I'm curious why that building is still standing. It looks like, judging from the surrounding trees, that the land is beautiful. Nice photography!

Wow, Chuck, that was powerful. Loved that!

Chuck, a very moving piece! We have lost a lot of our industrial heritage with regard to the solid old buildings that once dotted the landscape in New England and the Rust Belt, plus the companies that once owned them. Whenever I see these buildings converted for residential use I am happy that they have been saved for future generations to appreciate.

I'm a really big fan of text and image combinations and I think you've put together and admirable one here.

You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore


well, yuppies are scrambling the halls living their
desperate lives, but most of them i see
are seemingly happy enough.

certainly they are fit. athletic. attractive.
i would love to think they are screwing their brains out in there.
is that somehow sacreligious?

is it sad?
silk mill gone.
girls in silk naughty nighties, maybe, who knows.

ume!i am
called out!
first time ever...


:: note for emmerling when he comes back;
come out west and find an old stump farm
(cit. Gary Snyder, Old Stump Farms)
with camera you are going to buy; same as
was used first out here."

i am well acquainted with mr snyder,
being raised by hippy sisters...
He was a damn elitist, though.
Snarky smartass:
zen & eastern wisdom & all that.
went to Japan and India.


the lingo is here, boyo, not overseas.
some of us american mutants are born with zen
but also hyper-rationality.
william carlos wiliams is a start, same era.

tis a profane streetwise poetry around the bend.
it is already somewhat unsophisicatedly sung in iphones
and mp3s etc.

no boy or girl today is not deep into their head
hearing music
made to make
them buy more music now.

i aint goin west unless tis in my mind, where i've been
and don't like the perfection of the skin&BONES&face
that is involved with the
california experience.






,

I knew it had to be New England!

I lived in Rhode Island a number of years - we had plenty of those sad empty buildings.

Nice read! / R