Return to Cinder by CoreyBlack
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Description
When I was a little kid, I thought the chorus of the Elvis Presley song "Return to Sender" was-owing to the King's heavy Southern drawl, and my own youthful ignorance of inner workings of the United States Postal Service-"return to cinder." I wasn't really sure what that meant, but I accepted it in that vague way that six year olds absorb the strange goings on of the "grown up" world. I was also a very self absorbed child who frequently couldn't be bothered to hear things correctly. Case in point: for a brief period when I was about twelve I thought Burt Reynolds' name was "Burnt" Reynolds. To this day his name congers up images of scorched and melty Reynolds Wrap when ever I think of him.
So, (finally coming to the point), when I saw this old two flat reduced to cinder blocks the other day on Ashland Avenue, the radio station in my mind started going "Return to cinder/ba dup ba dup ba da/Address unknown..."
Photographed in the West Lakeview area of Chicago on January 23, 2015.
Comments (8)
Chipka
First of all, it's good to see you posting again, and you're back with a corker of an image! I love the story too. It reminds me of Harlan Ellison's little tour-de-force: "Jefty is Five" which came from the aforementioned author mis-hearing a conversation in which a woman asked another: "How's Jeffrey?" The other woman answered back, "Jeffrey is fine, he's always fine..." only he mis-heard it as, "Jefty is five, he's always five." And so we have the birth of a story. It's nice to know that writer-minds have something in common, though I won't bother to go into some of the things I've thought. This is a great and gritty image, too...I love the "other side of Chicago" vibe this has, as it's so add odds with what His Royal Worshipfullness (that mayor guy) wants us to think of the city. This rocks!
giulband
The image is very suggestive and your words gives much more at it's understanding !!
durleybeachbum
Hehe! You must know the classic mishear from the trenches of WW1, where messages were passed man to man becoming increasingly distorted : "Send reinforcements, we're going to advance" becomes "Send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance".
kgb224
Welcome back my friend. Superb capture. God bless.
flavia49
ecellent
auntietk
Like the old hymn ... "Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear." And who IS Richard Stands?? As in, "I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the Republic for Richard Stands." Must be a hell of a guy! I like your cinder blocks, with or without the story. :P It's as if they've just fallen down, and if I'd gotten here a minute ago I would have seen it happen. Such an immediate and engaging picture! Good to see you here, old friend. I hope the book is going well. :)
CoreyBlack
Yeah, that Richard Stands must have an iron Constitution; he's almost 240 years old. By the way, when I was a kid, I thought God's name was "Andy." As in: Andy walks with me, and he talks with me... Parts of the book are going very well. Unfortunately, they're connected to the parts that aren't. One day it will be finished...I think. Nice to see you too. Hope all is well.
anahata.c
I hate to say it, but some of my experiences with the Chicago Post Office DID return my letters to cinder. I've done Certified/Return Receipt, and waited for 3 weeks for the tracking info to 'start' to show up online. But---this isn't the place for a rant about the Chicago Post Office. (Drop a letter 'in', never see it again...) Anyway, I love this shot. I love how it spills right at us. I love how it opens up as it moves towards us. You got just the right angle, and the right hues. It's a big lava-spill of cinder blocks. Did you know (or even care) that "Cinderella" was so-called because she rose out of ashes (ie, cinders)? We also get "incinerate" from the same root. I never understood how these iconic ugly gray blocks came from ashes, I don't know anything about the making of cinder blocks; but here they look like the ashes of a great cinder holocaust. Esp next to that blighted wall, with the graffiti and the old soiled bricks. I love the wall almost as much as the cinder spill. And the ugly green fence and the typically January-gray chicago sky back there. (Yeah, I want one of those fences in my home...) You do this kind of shot so well. This is how it should be done. Do you see the pink cups coming out of the cinder block right up front? That's what the block was drinking when the bomb hit. And you're writing a book, I see (from yours and tara's comments): I'm thrilled to hear that, because you've always written so well and engagingly and humorously. I don't know who Richard Stands is, but I wish you all the best with the book. When parts of something I write don't work, I just have my characters have sit-down, decide to kick the damned parts out, and they do it. It's followed by lawsuits, and sometimes the whole piece disintegrates. But however you handle the uncooperative parts, I wish you great luck with it. This is a terrific photo; and while it could be anywhere, it says "chicago" to me through and through. Terrific image, Corey.
anahata.c
ok, I just got the "Richard Stands" bit. I had to log back in, and come here and tell you, so I didn't look like the biggest freakin' idiot in the midwest. And I just got the "Andy" bit too. Normally I'd GET these things---but somehow I didn't get the Richard Stands thing OR the Andy thing, not when you and tara first wrote them, nor today. Right over the ol' head-eroo. Mea culpa, it's inexcusable. But I still wish you well on your book. And I'm sure I have some puns to add to yours and tara's, but I can't think of any now, so I'll leave this and go hide...