Moments Without Proper Names, by Gordon Parks (Oversized HC, 1975, $4)
"I will go on as before
Steeled against those enemies
yet unborn
Who would come one day
To water down my blood
Into some wintry fluid.
I know their scent and
Recognize their whispering
In the distant fog.
I will keep watch."
And keep watch he does. Gordon Parks was a photo journalist, a movie director (Shaft), a writer (The Learning Tree), and a composer. He wrote the poem "In Memoriam", the last lines of which are quoted above. The photos and the poems of this book are sometimes disturbing and sometimes beautiful. It's the disturbing ones that I will remember most. Now I too, in a small way, will have to keep watch.
It's a tough call as to where to place this book. If I put it in the African American section, then a lot of people would probably not see it, but this book should be seen, so I will put it in the photography section.
