The Annihilation of Time
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.
It's opener there
in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.
OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.
You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
from OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO, by Dr. Seuss
Comments and faves
silviothemilvio, larryosan, Norma Tub, Livia Llewellyn, and 68 other people added this photo to their favorites.
larryosan (61 months ago | reply)
No doubt those who have had encounters or who have had relatives who have had encounters with these types of drugs will be disturbed and some perhaps will lodge a complaint for your recording this, but it is still a powerful if not disturbing image. To me it appears to be very very sad that someone needs to annihilate time in this manner. Without moral judgement but with a sense of opinion.
Alphabeta Photography (61 months ago | reply)
Powerful. Amazing. Stunning. (Add any other superlative.)
Norma Tub (61 months ago | reply)
Wonderful title and image! Know something about this life.
sjbmuse (61 months ago | reply)
An incredibly powerful image
ideias no escuro (61 months ago | reply)
Really good. congrats!
Andy Sheridan (61 months ago | reply)
Hardcore...that's what it is. The annihilation of time AND humanity unfortunately. Only thing is is that time keeps on ticking on, humanity isn't that strong. Harrowing image.
Ben° (61 months ago | reply)
escape....!
N u n o (61 months ago | reply)
after a while the only thing that makes sense is the sense and the nonsense of all those things that have no sense at all
Nimoe (61 months ago | reply)
Sad & Beautiful
AnomalousNYC (61 months ago | reply)
And before anyone asks, no, I don't do heroin and no, I'm not promoting heroin use.
And no, I'm not going to add this to the "Stick Figures in Peril" group.
The Oldie (61 months ago | reply)
Found from Portraits That Tell A Story
A beautiful telling of an ugly story. Well done!
Brunocerous (61 months ago | reply)
wow. good to meet you, sir.
SisterSeekingilm (61 months ago | reply)
skeebop....thats NYC for you, baby.
fotoattack (61 months ago | reply)
BAD drug, Beautiful shot.
Michael V (61 months ago | reply)
wow, very intense... great lighting
*#$@!% (61 months ago | reply)
oh i love that light!
~Aphrodite (61 months ago | reply)
This is very sad.
a.long (61 months ago | reply)
hey t., great to see you guys again!
Shai Yehezkelli (61 months ago | reply)
dude, you're such a drama queen!
nah, just kidding. You're very sensitive.
Eduardo Cruz (61 months ago | reply)
Amanzing!
Yo Yo shaheeN (61 months ago | reply)
O this is just perfect!
The meaning of art
byrdiegyrl (61 months ago | reply)
As a nurse, I get to see the way this affects the users way way down their chosen road......it is a long and very sad road to travel. Thomas...you capture the essence of your subjects powerfully and beautifully all at the same time, your gift for this art is amazing.
AnomalousNYC (61 months ago | reply)
thanks so much byrdie!
Sue, Toronto (61 months ago | reply)
...I'm afraid that sometimes
You'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'Cause you'll play against you...
.Eddie (61 months ago | reply)
I'm an admin for a group called Fear of..., and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
This is a very powerful photo... tragic and frightening
carlafida (61 months ago | reply)
and then comes my favourite bit:
The waiting place....
for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
sorry I coudn't help myself!
this is a powerful image together with a powerful story which could apply to so many of our lives...
hhill (61 months ago | reply)
fantastic shot! great colors and tones.
cromacom (61 months ago | reply)
My dear Dr. Seuss...
--
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
supersky77 (61 months ago | reply)
really a tough picture!
pashosh (60 months ago | reply)
You do really amazing pics!!! Congratulations!
nr.7375 (60 months ago | reply)
Shocking! "A" Class.
Fidei_Defensor (59 months ago | reply)
Anomalous. Your work is simply breath taking at times.
My favourite Flickr artist.
john rogers nyc (58 months ago | reply)
you make a joke about people who use heroin,
as if its their choice or something.
i hate to break it to you but addiction isn't some hilarious
joke or dr suess poem.
you should be ashamed for posting that story with this image.
AnomalousNYC (58 months ago | reply)
no joke at all
not a joke at all
nothing funny about heroin
you need to learn to read
you might start with dr. seuss
alexandra petersen (56 months ago | reply)
Beautiful. Tragic. The juxtaposition couldn't be more perfect. You have a real gift. Anyone who has felt the lure of addiction knows exactly this-ultimately the promise of the drug is to take you back to the child you once were so very long ago, no matter how cruel the return trip inevitably turns out to be.
pigotta08(limited) [deleted] (54 months ago | reply)
Very drammatic....
AnomalousNYC (54 months ago | reply)
if you say so
alexandra petersen (53 months ago | reply)
My sincerest apologies, I gravely misjudged the quality and insight of your 'work'. I see now that it comes from merely a sensationalist attention seeking quisling with no more depth than a cheap tabloid snap. Anyone that replies to a compliment with a cheesy 'If you say so" comeback is not 'edgy', but rather simply yet another tiresome and easily dismissed immature little twit showcasing his insecurity.
AnomalousNYC (53 months ago | reply)
Dear Alexandra:
the "if you say so" was a response to someone who subsequently deleted their comment - they said that this was obviously faked, whatever that might mean. Rather than argue, I simply said "if you say so," because whether this is fictional or not is sort of irrelevant. Not sure how that makes me a "quisling" - do you even know what that means? - or how you can feel even remotely entitled to comment on the maturity of someone twice your age. The whole point of posting this was simply sharing my feeling of sadness and resignation about a friends way-too-serious engagement with this most depressing of drugs.
Ultimately, your mercurial little-girl rage and little-girl punitive zeal is part of the story of all women, leaping from love to hate, rocketing from very up to very down, and so it is also part of the story of this photo.
alexandra petersen (53 months ago | reply)
Point Taken, With Caveat
While I do concede your point of my extremes as far as commentary, and I do acknowledge (and, thus, offer up my regrets for hasty judgmental retort in light of your explanation), I do not agree with your rather petty snipe with regards to my age and gender. As for the meaning of the word 'quisling', I do indeed possess a rudimentary knowledge of the english language and it was ind fact my intention to allude to traitorous in the context of artistic expression. If it was wrongly applied in this instance, sincere apologies are offered. I simply get so fed up at times with the amount of empty posturing and pompous, rude behavior exhibited all too often by individuals who have the mistaken belief that by donning the robes of 'Artiste' they are given license to sneer at those whom they deem the unwashed masses, hardly worthy of sharing the rarified air of the 'TRUE' creative community. All too often this 'art' brings more to mind the Emperor's New Clothes. So. There you are, and here we are. Creativity does tend to share a synapse or two with high emotion, and that in turn can result in over hasty judgments, a well plated serving of crow, and the resulting case of 'foot in mouth' disease. I have been known to serve myself generous helpings of all, and I have reason to believe I am not the lone connoisseur of such dishes in our particular (and peculiar) crowd of malcontents. Having recently lost two close people to the narcissisms of drugs and depression, I was perhaps indulging in a moment of hypersensitivity and wrongly applied it to an innocent party. For that, please do accept my apologies, but may I gently suggest you would be wise to spare a moment to rethink your ill applied misogynistic beliefs.
john rogers nyc (53 months ago | reply)
whoa alexandra has some serious vocab skills, better not fuck
with her anymore.
Michael Gene McGowan (47 months ago | reply)
Herion isn't really all that dark. If you wanted to give a realistic shot she should have been in a car using a seat belt to tie off with.
JJWaller (46 months ago | reply)
Contributors to this thread would probably be interested in photographer Eugene Richards photo essay Cocaine Blue. Well worh a view if you are not familiar with this body of work.
voltron? (34 months ago | reply)
gnarly shot. that horse will fuck you up good and proper...
AnomalousNYC (28 months ago | reply)
voltron, your comment is more appropriate than you can possibly know
OoJackieoO (24 months ago | reply)
wish i didn't know what that was like...but i do..it took me places i never wanted to go...it took all that was good and unique about me and made me an ordinary easily looked over..ugly girl..for me i know now it all came from fear...and self hatred...i was afraid to try and live..out of fear of being laughed at rejected..so i rejected myself first...addiction is a sad and lonely existence..just wish u could figure that out at the beginning and not have to go through hell for your eyes to finally open..love the pic..
Nancy_Julian666 (22 months ago | reply)
Whatever! Why do people have to talk crap? I don't care if it's real or not, it's badass. And it looks real to me, heroin is that dark if it's good enough and if you use enough. A couple of tenths in a cc won't look like that, but a half gram might. I don't know if you really use or not, but even if you don't, it's a badass and really neat symbolic picture, and the Dr. Suess poem just put it over the top! I don't use anymore myself, I'm on methadone, but I never regretted anything, no matter how bad I hurt, no matter how bad I got, because even though I may have ruined a lot of good things in life by using for so long, I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't had that experience, and I think a lot of other users feel that way too. Maybe not all, but a lot. I mean, I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ashamed either, but noone can spend their time regretting things because regret is a poison far worse than any drug. And I'm sorry, I just spent ten minutes talking to myself and noone probably cares! Sorry. I'll shut up now! You go girl, lovely picture!!!