Mar 112008
 

One of my favorite cemeteries, the Homewood Cemetery. Henry and I used to go for walks here together regularly, but then as he continued to age, his endurance slackened and I would end up going alone. This is the only cemetery I walk in that has never, on some occasion, made my body shake with that biting sensation that someone’s behind me, something’s watching me, bodies are rising from the earth. Maybe because there’re always people at this one, groundsmen and mourners and visitors fulfilling obligations.

The mausoleum is terrifying though, I take it back. I’ve peed in the bathroom a few times and sometimes the idea of running out with urine streaming down my thighs seems like the better alternative to taking the extra step to wipe. I just get caught up with that Go! Go! Go! Run for your life! subconscious warning, like I’m watching myself in a horror movie. Never go in the mausoleum to piss,  you idiot!

This photo makes me think of spring, like I want to put on a floppy hat and lay out on one of the graves. But then I remember that when I took this photo, it was below twenty degrees and I forgot to bring gloves; within ten minutes of exiting the car, my fingers were so cold that it looked like ten hot dogs were dripping from my hands, so I guess instead of picnics and floppy hats, I was probably thinking about parkas and bonfires, as in roasting my fingers in one.

Now just envision someone crouching next to a tombstone, face all hidden behind a giraffe mask. April 12 and 13, baby.

  10 Responses to “Homewood”

  1. Being enclosed in a building with dead people like that might inspire more fear than out in the populated outside part. It’s probably good that you didn’t interrupt your peeing to run, but maybe it’d be an added defense if who ever is chasing you is slipping on a trail of pee. =)

    This cemetery + animal masks will be fantastic. Can’t wait.

    I like that picture, it has a slightly surreal thing going on.

  2. “that biting sensation that someone’s behind me, something’s watching me, bodies are rising from the earth”

    That reminds me of work last night. I’m used to working nights and there’s someone on the main floor for crying out loud, it’s not like I’m ALONE. But last night I kept seeing things out of the corner of my eye. The worst was when I went out to my car to get my laundry (yes, I do my laundry at work) I SWEAR I saw someone standing in the back driveway, right in front of the gate. There’s this long path that leads from the front of the house to where the cars are parked, it’s not hidden by trees or anything that would cast shadows. But I SAW A PERSON. I kept seeing things in the basement, and even upstairs when I was on the couch, things would catch my attention down the hall. Seriously I’ve worked there almost two years and I’ve never been scared like that. I think I was visited by ‘a presence.’ =(

  3. “but then as he continued to age, his endurance slackened and I would end up going alone.”

    *losing it alone*

    Did you take this with the camera you made? It looks like a picture you see through one of those Viewfinders–did you have one of those as a child?

    • I used my Diana for this shot. It’s a plastic-lens camera, my favorite! I love how it takes ordinary images and makes it look like a fairy tale.

      Viewfinders! I loved those things.

  4. that picture is awesome.

    but- it makes me feel scared of that cem.

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