May Flying Carpet 2015

In May the Flying Carpet
Zoomed the Lagoon of Venice

and reveled in the GLORY that was Venice
Queen of the Seas
Empress of Palazzos and Fog and Mystery

But wait!
Anachronism reigns supreme in modern Venice...
Gondoliers in full gondolieregalia 

texting on cell phones

Mixed media shrines in the labyrinth of alleyways

“The Circus is in Town"

 The 56th Venice Biennale 

growls and squeaks and yells and gasps its last 

in the pavilion fun houses

and locations snatched from ruin

Aliens have surely landed amidst the baroque

And at the Arsenale

A moon-walk space suit 

made of defunct Zimbabwean money 

hovers amidst the ancient stone walls

Statues are everywhere 

For all you animal rights activists, 

the pigeons are alive and well in Venice... 

but not for long...
(No animals were harmed 

in the production of this photograph 

by Zachariah.)

Juxtapositions making sense

and nonsense

Environments obliterated

and enhanced
in a style vaguely redolent 

of complete confusion

Comte de Lautréamont's 

classic definition of surrealism:
“As beautiful as the chance encounter 

of a sewing machine 

and an umbrella 

on an operating table.” 

comes to mind in the stage set of Venice

“I have felt the wing of the wind of madness”-- Cy Twombly

Again...Special thanks to the Emily Harvey Foundation 

for a month-long residency in Venice