Artist/Poet collaboration with Zac Stafford. Referenced from an old photo of Zac’s mother and uncle. Paper, paint and printed words.
Before
by Zac Stafford
Before the cigarettes
Before the fights
Before the tear warped light
Before the wheeze
Before the playground scraped knees
Before the war
Before the scatter and dash
Before the ash
Before the breeze
Before the doctors whispered disease
Before the scalpel
Before the cut
Before the bills and pills and living wills
Before the looming dread
Before the broken down cars, food stamps and legal pleading and moral fleeting
Before foreclosure
Before neglect
There was a glimmer a grin and place to begin