SHADOW SIDE
Creative Director/Photographer: Earnest Joseph Odom
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Palm to Palm
When the darkness came
I stared into it for so long
And with such determination
Eventually a recognizable figure came into view
An other-dimensional version of myself
My shadow
She’s been doing my dirty work
Excavating the corners of my mind
Facing the findings head on
She’s wild and worn
Fierce and feral
Shrouded in righteous rage
She exists only for me and I love her
I reach into the abyss
As far as my arm will stretch without losing my balance
My finger tips find hers
Our palms press into perfect reflection
I know she sees me
And I see her
I really see her
Though my heart aches for the life she’s resigned to
Something in her firm touch tells a different story
Her hand is steady and strong
She doesn’t want me to come closer
She’s found the tempered peace that follows resolve
She has accepted her place
She wants to be there
She believes that’s what it takes to keep me here
She is certain her world would break me
She doesn’t know what horrors exist in mine
Despite her gracious sacrifice, I push back
Whispering a desperate & uncertain plea
What if I want to climb back into the darkness
What if I can’t stand to be present in this light
Because it hurts my eyes and burns my skin
To have witnessed far too much of this bitter earth
Maybe I want to give in to the fury of our shared memories
To return to an existence out of sight
And out of my mind
If only she’d allow me a moment
To plunge back into the guise of my shadow
Because what she doesn’t see
Is how foolish I feel for having fought tirelessly to be here
In the midst of a society hellbent
On destroying everything that’s worth anything
What she doesn’t know
Is the world isn’t what we hoped it’d be
When she set me free
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Creative Director/Photographer: Earnest Joseph Odom
Creative Director/Model: Stephanie Bernal