(1990)
Bulletin board, Philadelphia
Preppy girl wanted. Beast of burden, Philadelphia
(2003)
The neighbors’ daughter, West Philadelphia
What do we think? Exploitative, like frames of the destitute? Should she not be seen nor remembered because she’s developmentally disabled, or should I have held back because she had no agency in the moment? She was the grown child of the family in the house next door. I don’t remember her name, and that’s too bad right now. She would sit there with her radio for hours upon end, rocking, literally and figuratively, in that chair. She screamed like a banshee, sometimes endlessly. (She could be heard through the wall.) But she loved my dogs and came to associate me with them. Here, she’s happy to see me. So, I took the shot. (1989 or 1990)
Alto, West Philadelphia
Ever faithful. This is Emily, who was called Alto, my precious little girl who deserved a better life than I gave her in my twenties. She curled up with me anyway, until I had to go away to New York City to claim a life and left her behind. She lived out her years in the ample lap of a friend of my mother, with another dog and plenty of love, while going blind and deaf. She was put down when the old woman died, I learned after the fact. It’s not worth touching up the debris on the shot. We lived a dirty, meager life. Might as well own it. (1987)
Saturday afternoon, West Philadelphia
(2014)
Level 9, Philadelphia
(2019)
Washington St. Bridge, Wilmington, Del.
(2018)
Peter’s apartment, Philadelphia
(1998)
Dark chapel, Glen Mills, Pa.
(2020)
Forsaken steed, Havertown, Pa.
(1991)
