A Time Not Here

Photographs by Norman Mauskpf, essay by Randall Kenan. subtitle: The Mississippi Delta. Twin Pal - I forgot what year, need to find out - think it was pretty recently published.

Anyway, this is a beautiful book, absolutely beautiful. The B/W photographs are stark and powerful, yet full of soul and have some smooth motion in them, and poring over them I swear you can actually feel the thick air of the Mississippi Delta lumbering by . . . you find yourself swatting at a mosquito on your neck. You inhale the thick fumes of cigar smoke from the two old old men playing checkers on the wooden deck - you HEAR the strains of the old guitar.

These pictures are that powerful.

The essay is just as good - the language flowing and lilted, as though the prose was set the the lowdown jazz straight from the gutbucket - I kid you not : IMHO, this essay sounds like it was written with the soul of Langston Hughes and the rhythm of Kerouac.

Like I said, beautiful book. A must for anybody who collects nice books or anything that perfectly captures a small significant section of Americana.

VG