Since it’s a rainy, gross morning in Pennsylvania, I’ve spent the morning going through photographs on my phone, culling them. And that brings me to this photo.
This is a painting that hung in my room in the intensive care ward at St. Joseph’s earlier this month. It’s an autumn painting, a blanket of leaves in a kaleidoscope of colors that have fallen and now cover a lawn or a forest floor.
I stared at this painting for four days, and though I could see the obvious autumn foliage, that’s not what I saw in the painting at all.
I saw a Jazz Age party. I saw a crowded room, I saw the backs of heads, I saw people dressed and mingling and enjoying themselves. I saw a Gatsby party.
It wasn’t what the painting was or was ever meant to be, but seeing it that way brought me joy.
Published by Allyn Gibson
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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