Today the fabulous photographer Brooke Olsen returns with this haunting but beautiful piece. She explains, “This is an image from my trip across America. This was from our couple days in Kentucky. I call it Rural Decay. It’s a color photo with a black/white one layered over it.
What I saw in KY sticks with me. These are the folks who believed the lies of The Orange Skidmark. They won’t get vaccinated. They won’t wear masks. They will catch Covid, bring it home to their multi-generational homes and kill family members. These are the “gun collectors”, a bullshit term for armed homegrown Good Ol’ Boys. These same people would have gone to clan meetings 50 years ago. Heck maybe they do now.”
Rural Decay

©Brooke Olsen – 2021
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Filmmaker/Photographer Brooke Olsen has been taking photos since the day she discovered her grandfather’s Polaroid Land Camera. The connection to images was instant, just like the film she was shooting. Born in New York, transplanted to Los Angeles, and now breathing fresh air in Maine. Can be found on Instagram @olsenfoto
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For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.
#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.
If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !