“If, Indeed” (reflection on John Berger’s essay, “Appearances” in [Reflections on: Berger, John and Mohr, Jean, with help from Nicholas Philbert, Another Way of Telling, NY: Pantheon Books, 1982, 308p.– pages 81-129.)

If you’d studied Bergson’s “flux”,
Also, Hegel’s complex stuff
Back in the 60s or forthwith,
Of all of this, you’d get the gist.

I’d another tome explored –
Tao of Photography’s new world;
Taking outlook of one’s “view”
Melding it gives something new.

Hegel was opaque to me;
Bergson was a glimpse quite fleet –
Just enough to comprehend
Outlooks held by these two men.

Hegel’s “dialectic” stuff
Laid the base for Marx – but tough
For mere mortals to lay in
To our minds – “Where to begin?!”

In our day, all that is gone –
GPT (AI)’s the song
We all sing – “Hey chat, explain!
Complex tomes (points – in the main)”.

Such philosophers of “Time”,
“History”, view lives like mine
In a new way – once one sees,
Older views of photos leave.

“Can’t step in a river twice –
It moves on – a bit like life”,
Always changing, same old scenes –
Rich become – that’s what it means.

“Interactive are all parts
Of what social life imparts:
“Shooter” – “Shot” – “The Viewer.” – “Use”,
In life’s flux fresh mix is loosed.

Place each factor in the pix,
Interacting at each click,
Shows dynamics first not seen –
“Metamorphed”, to me that means.

Thanks Holy Spirit for this.

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