Cherie Hunter Day
Kodachrome
This 35mm slide was passed over many times by pickers sifting through rubbish at the teardown site. The snippet of film still sparkles in its rectangular jacket misshapen from black mold in countless cycles of rain and sun. It survived the interrogation but in the process has become an unreliable witness—a cyan halo surrounding a grey vacancy. Maybe it should have been discarded straight away because of the awkward capture like the double camellia hopelessly out of focus, or the candid taken during an enormous bite of food. Then again, it might be the only shot of Betty taken on that hot summer evening in August 1968, before she got so sick. There were lots of cocktails served around the kidney-shaped pool, which now has bamboo growing through the cracked blue tiles. Although the owner has moved on, he has left for us this tease of history, an incomplete mirror.
pocketing the stone smoothed by time and time again
About the Author
Cherie Hunter Day has written haibun since 2000. Her haibun “In Rumble Dark” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. Recent collections include A House Meant Only for Summer (Red Moon Press, 2023) and Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (Backbone Press, 2022), which won a 2022 Touchstone Distinguished Book Award. She lives in northern California among thirsty redwoods.