Southern Light: Visual and Verbal Snapshots of the South
“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.”
– Eudora Welty
A photograph and a haiku do the same thing. They capture a moment and portray it so that its audience can linger on it for five seconds or five hours. On the surface they seem clean and simple but beneath lies juxtaposition and complexity.
I am a songwriter, musician and painter and have only fairly recently bought a good camera. I am a novice haiku writer at best. That’s why I’m referring to these as verbal snapshots instead of haiku even though I’m utilizing its classic five syllable, seven syllable, five syllable lines.
I do love the South, however, and think I have a pretty good eye and ear. The visual snapshots were taken during two brief trips around the South, only a few weeks apart. The verbal ones were collected in the span of about a year.
This book is meant to be opened at random, flipped through or dwelled upon for as long as one wishes.
I hope you enjoy these southern flashes.
Cheers.
Jefferson Ross
