Sunday, February 15, 2009

Sometimes there is a silence.

There are couples in bad restaurants, at the beginning of a movie when the previews have but just started, in a tiny coffee shop. In hundreds of places and some of these couples talk to one another as if they have hundreds of things to say, to tell, to retell, to repeat, to announce, to question. They propose all this information voluntarily, and hope that the other person can relate, or argue or understand. They talk as if there weren't enough time in the day or even in life to say all the things they need to say.

but then there are couples. The ones who have been married for years, who appear to have used up all their words, or have lost all their words. those who look so bored, those who don't look at one another.
There are the friendly lovers who caress each other and laugh at every word and appear to be immensely jolly and fulfilled.
There are the serious lovers who talk about all those things the man of consequence worries himself over.
Although all these instances come up in any said relationship, none of them are specific to any kind of love. But there is one, filled with little complications, that is so subtle that it is deserving of a certain recognition in a certain tiny world, called Camilleville.

There is the couple. The one that you notice right away. The one you cant pinpoint at the instant you see them. Are they in love? are they terribly bored? are they wonderfully happy? You cant know! And it drives you mad. So you stare at them.

They pass each other the hot sauce as if he who picked it up first, was only lifting it to pass it to the other- because he knows she needs it very badly. Then you notice they are blushing, and it is because they grazed fingertips ever so gently, but you do not know this. So you smile because you now doubt that they know each other very well, you smile because you think you've captured a moment of new romance.

You look at them moments later and they are laughing at each others jokes, but you know they didnt say a word because you are sitting right beside them. and now you are lost. It wasnt a laughter of awkwardness, it was something that can only grow from something small, like the pleasant realization of a mutual sense of humor.

Chopsticks in one hand and shyly holding each others fingertips under the table and laughing then beaming at one another then nothing. and suddenly, as though they just remembered they were in a restaurant, they resume eating.

There are couples like this who with a glance, nod in tiny agreement. It may not have even been a nod but such tiny gestures don't have words. Words are too long and complicated and mean too many different things when paired together. But it is a physical appreciation for knowing something that wasn't said, nor will be said, that matters a great deal.

They have full conversations in silence. they have amorous exchanges about travel and lovemaking, about needs and wants, about bad days and how better days are on the way.

Then something needs to be said and they say that something. But even as they speak they know that these silent intervals are more carefully chosen than even the most special choice in words.

They leave. And you will never see them again. Sometimes you'll feel sorry, and sometimes you get annoyed at yourself for seeing something you don't understand and maybe its complicated and you wish they'd just come out with it! And sometimes they do and in that case they lose it. They lose the quiet gestures and the hand flutters and the butterflies and the way they look when they look at you and the purity of the silence. so you keep the silence. because its more precise and more gentle than any flirtation.
Most times all you have to do is run very very silently and grasp that person and shake them and say nothing and then just hold them and they will know. You should try this in a library, or in a very old museum. These are good places to practice because when you cant create the silence on your own, its helpful to allow someone to create it for you.

With love and a short hum,
JP and Camille

ONC Mag. Update!

Hello Hello 'Ello!!

So here are the updated submission dates for ONC Mag: I.N. - International Newsletter for Artists and their like.

Submission due date for Art and Writing is March 6th!!!!!!!!

The first issue will be out on April 6th so get your stuff in QUICK!
Release party will be announced shortly.

For submissions or more info contact ohnocamille@gmail.com