Tag: portraiture

Skin and Tiles

Photographer Unknown, (Skin and Tiles)

“He was like one of those pictures full of small errors, the kind you could only pick out by searching the image from every angle, and even then, a few always slipped by. On the surface, Eli seemed perfectly normal, but now and then Victor would catch a crack, a sideways glance, a moment when his roommate’s face and his words, his look and his meaning, would not line up. Those fleeting slices fascinated Victor. It was like watching two people, one hiding in the other’s skin. And their skin was always too dry, on the verge of cracking and showing the color of the thing beneath.”

— Victoria Schwab, Vicious

The Linen Bedding

Lying Atop the Linen Bedding

Etymology: atop, adverb, “on or at the top,” 1650s, from a– (1) + top (n.1). Two words or hyphenated at first; not fully established as one word until the late 19th century.

“A quick writhe placed him atop”.

– Norman Springer, Fire Mountain

“Tim Slater, he was that, ye know, says ‘twas an uncommon fine ‘un, lying’ right atop the chist.”

–H. A. Cody, The Frontiersman

“You see, they would have took it all atop, and no mistake”

– William Fred De  Morgan, When Ghost Meets Ghost

Ray Bradbury: “It’s All Firecrackers and Skeleton Toys”

Photographer Unknown, Day of the Dead Dancer

“Up in Illinois, we’ve forgotten what it’s all about. I mean the dead, up in our town, tonight, heck, they’re forgotten. Nobody goes to sit and talk to them. Boy, that’s lonely. That’s really sad. But here– why, shucks. It’s both happy and sad. It’s all firecrackers and skeleton toys down here in the plaza and up in that graveyard now are all the Mexican dead folks with the families visiting and flowers and candles and singing and candy. I mean it’s almost like Thanksgiving, huh? And everyone set down to dinner, but only half the people able to eat, but that’s no mind, they’re THERE. It’s like holding hands at a séance with your friends, but some of the friends gone.”
― Ray Bradbury