Outside the Frame
is a brand new
$115 million dollar high school with the same name as the abandoned one outside the frame
are two men biking at midnight down John R street with red lights blinking off
their cycles like morse code it’s not too dangerous outside the frame are the
lines around Michigan Avenue for Slows Bar B Q outside the frame are the larger
contexts for these shots the what’s next
and what’s next to the slots of abandoned tagged houses and houses that went so long ago that only
field is left not even foundations those have grown over with prairie grass did
you see the pheasants outside the frame is a functioning farm an urban garden where one horse neighs in the
heat nuzzles the dirt outside the frame stands a blue sign with two yellow suns
and Hope Takes Root outside the frame is the Obama gas station at the
intersection of Plymouth and Wyoming with rebranded awnings & signs &
pumps and outside the frame the owner says I have my dream and my dream came true
outside the frame is the possibility to do whatever the hell you want no one cares what we do here outside the frame is the blues jam at the corner
of Frederick and St. Aubin so bring
your lawn chairs to the abandoned lot where they pass the hat for the mowing
porta-potties electric generator to run the amps because outside the frame
sometimes there’s just nobody around to say you can’t
Erika Meitner
Copia (BOA Editions, 2014)
