Water Wings

This was written for when the VHS pool was dedicated to Mark Wagner in his honor. I think I wrote it May 2009. Anyway, it's for Wags, my high school swim coach, and anyone who swam for him.



we swam for you
that's what brings us here today
we swam for you

we got in the water
on any winter’s day
and we swam for you

we ran the halls
worked the weights
we did wheelbarrows, crabwalks
along the deck
all the way to the end
we did crunches,
and pushups with the tops of our feet down, hands faced in

and we swam for you

we did hundreds on the two
fifties on the one
and when it was near eight
we lined up by the office
for pancakes and egg mcmuffins
orange juice and milk
we’d breakfast in the bleachers
and throw barbs, zings

you threw them right back

our hair got shiny
blonde grew green
our skin got dry, flaky
we smelled of chlorine,
wreaked of chlorine
and when the time came
we shaved our arms and legs
some our chests
we shaved our heads
(some of us still do)

and we swam for you

we were a bus full of teenagers
man children
we were a bus full of laughing
a bus full of mirth

and after we won
(because we'd always win)
you’d lead a cheer for the other team
and then back on the bus
you’d tell us our splits
and how to improve
and prove ourselves

it’s called practice
so we’d practice

and on any winter’s day
we grabbed a board
and pull buoy
and set them at the water’s edge

we flapped our arms
shook our legs
and tried to hook our goggles on the flags

you can do well
you said
or you can do wah
you don’t want to be a do wah
do you?

we’d jump in
the water was always cold
we'd goggle up
and sink just below the surface,
wait for the whistle,
and push off the wall
we were a chorus of kicking,
water bending at the bow

and when we turned our heads
or lifted our chins
hoo!
hoo!
hoo!
at every breath
and turn

we swam for you

our chests red
our eyes red
our arms aching
we got better stronger faster

you gave us wings
water wings
in the pool
and on land

you showed us the merits of hard work
team work
integrity, discipline
and honesty

if it were easy
you said
everybody would be good

when you decided to leave the pool
you did it
you just did it

but the 7.2 pH water was in your blood
and you returned to the pool
courageously

and we continued
to swim for you

you were always supportive
you were always understanding
you always listened

your dry wicked sense of humor
always made it better

and when we did something good
something that made you proud
you said
who knew

but that was the thing

you knew

as a teacher
as a coach
as a friend
you touched
and influenced
countless
lives

you gave us wings
water wings
and these wings
will aways swim for you

thank you mr wagner
thank you mark
thank you wags

hoo!

How I Play The Instagram

Not sure who said the following, but it's true.

The best camera you'll ever own is the one you have with you.

The iPhone, for good and/or bad, is always with me. It's a communication device, it's a computer, it's a camera, it's a dessert, it's a floor wax, it's a fucking miracle that fits in my pocket.

A lot of people spend their time on Angry Birds and Temple Run. Mine goes into taking pictures. I take a lot of pictures.

I take them with the iPhone issued camera app. I take a bunch because, well, it's digital. I can throw away the ones that are blurry or framed poorly - the ones that suck.

Most of the photos I take will go on Instagram, a square format. So I shoot to crop; I give myself room.

There are TONS of apps for iphoneography. SHIT TONS. Personally I have several dozen, although I only use about 6 regularly.

(I know what you're thinking... I use an app called Appshopper; which is now Appshopper Social. It keeps a list of apps I'm interested in buying. When an app is on sale, or FREE - it alerts me.)

The one I seem to use most is Decim8. It turns your pictures automagically into puck rock album art. This is a picture I took of a bio-hazard sticker on the garbage can when I had a Dr appt.



Decim8's blurb in the App store:

FILM IS DEAD ... And yet many camera apps still insist upon attempting simulations of that long-past era. We say NO to artificial nostalgia, pushing forward in the digital realm with different forms of creative destruction.

With that in mind we present Decim8, a digital tool for photographic destruction. Armed with a set of bit-glitching filters, evolve your pictures into strange and sublime artifacts bordering on chaos. There are no effects to simulate your grandpa's snapshots. No virtual replicas of plastic instant-cams from your imaginary summer of '73. Just mad combinations of digital data-mashing. That's how we roll.

I'm an anti-social social network kind of guy. I don't post a lot of personal pictures, although I'm trying to*. I mostly post casual/abstract arty stuff, or something with a story connected to it. And I always provide a title. Sure, a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think you really need something to anchor it in a digital space. Otherwise it's just a sandwich or a tree; which is fine, but still...

That said, I try to keep my gallery mixed. I don't want to by arty guy, daddy guy, obsessed with burgers guy, or boring random guy.

Further, an image has to originate from my phone; no dslr pictures, nothing re-grammed, nothing memetastic. I manipulate it in other apps until I get something I dig, and then post. I'll tag people or locations if appropriate. I hashtag the app I'm using, or the subject, joke, etc. I don't do all that instagold instabest instacrap hashtagging - too much work/nonsense. I like pictures I like, although sometimes I'm just being supportive. I keep my comments minimal, usually just emoji if I can. And I try to only post a few pictures at a time - so as not to clog up the stream, as it were.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of timelapse now that Instagram can do video. And I create montage style stuff of my kids. (Yes, they have private accounts.) But I'm still experimenting. To do it right, video demands more time.

But I understand Instagram is an evolving platform, so who knows...

Anyhoo, that's how I play the Instagram.

--

* None of my friends - people who I actually know in real life - ever like my arty pictures. None. But if I post a picture of something personal, like an old bandana or a shoe, I usually get a few likes. Which is fine. Likes are not a thing for me. Don't get me wrong, they're nice. But in the same way that of your 500 hundred facebook friends, only 5 will take you to the airport, the Instagram timeline is faster and blurrier and not everyone is on there seeing all your stunning snaps.

Nonetheless I recognize Instagram is a social network. And really, there are other better places to create your galleries such as 500px, Tadaa, etc...

So I'm trying to share more personal stuff because I like when friends post their personal stuff. It's nice. And I can do the same.

We're all just playing, right?