Non-Events I
Morning turns inside out. The engine
is diseased, as it floats along
approximate ice. High contrast
geometry of persons straightens out from
meandering road. Desperate focus
never looks back. Progress makes possible
a paralyzed attendant, set apart
an end to himself (moral noise).
—Frame: 1971–1990 (Sun & Moon, 1997), 13
Avenue Poupelard in the center of this devastated city pulses with life and reeks of death almost two weeks after the earthquake. Before what Haitians call “the event,” it was a chaotically bustling street of lottery kiosks and cybercafes, gated homes and shacks, churches and schools. Now, a coffin maker spends the day hammering wood as fast as he can get it, while the body of a 6-year-old boy decomposes in the ruins of a school. … More
