Terminus: MLK BLVD

[jack_babalon]

Osiris Slain & Risen


"Get thee behind me..."
February 25th, 2007
~Rob M.

So there I am on an unmarked street corner off MLK Blvd and i've just discovered a most interesting confluence. In front of me is one of the oldest murals i've come across in the city: A beautifully rendered vision of Osiris emerging from behind a golden ankh. Now across the street of this very same corner is an empty lot adjacent to a church, where a very simple cross has been erected and adorned with a purple robe. I was seized by the beauty of this Jungian intersection of symbols. On the one side of the street the Ankh and on the other the Cross. In some circles these are merely two interpretations of the same symbol through different cultural paradigms. The cross of life and the cross of death. I feel a quick shiver jolt run down my spine. I soak in the "Vibes", the "Karma", the "Residual psychic energy", "The Force!" call it what you want, the the unique gravity that is the signature of the moment.

Meanwhile a few of the locals are starting to get vociferous. A casual mob of young men hanging out in front of a nearby apartment complex want to know who I am, what I want and why i'm taking photos? Some of them want to know if they can hold my camera "one time?". Sh'yeah okay. Now while I refuse to be one of those turtle Americans who hide behind their SUVs because they've decided to upgrade their racial fears into class phobias that manifest into Republican administrations and SUV leases, i'm also not the kind of liberal polyanna that would see no problem in my lending a group of random teenagers my 500$ camera.

So I snap off another shot of the ankh and the cross. Smile once more at the accidental magick of the moment, give the approaching mob a friendly wave and head off. It's a beautiful day in Atlanta, especially here on one of her most overlooked boulevards. I plan on at least recording a fraction of it!


A frozen invocation of the God Osiris
February 25th, 2007
~Rob M.