micro-stories

acrylic on paper

Only if one constructed a grid could Lohbado occupy a certain place at a certain time. Lohbado's location, pin pointed on a grid, represented where Lohbado had been. The pin-point grid became the object of attention, while the actual Lohbado in an actual place vanished into the distortion and haziness of memory. The grid told a story independent of what may or may not have happened to Lohbado.

This is not an original concept. The word/object, thing/abstraction, particular/universal duality goes back thousands of years. Lohbado, in writing his memoir, invoked this tradition of paradox, translating it into the OOO CHA dialectic. This is the real memoir. Every day he changed his socks and underwear, ate, performed bodily functions, showered, slept, trimmed his beard and thin hair.

In writing, Lohbado assembled micro-stories. For example, Lohbado walked into a cafe, ordered a coffee and began reading a book. He looked up, made eye contact with a woman with dark eyes and grey hair for a few seconds. She gazed at him, or rather beyond him. A waiter cleared the table next to Lohbado. Another woman, in her early fifties, sat down. She worked on a crossword puzzle.

Lohbado enjoyed being in the cafe.  He couldn't help but compare his cup of coffee to life. As a boy, life appeared like a fresh cup of coffee, like it would last a long time. As a man, he enjoyed the coffee. At the age of sixty, there wasn't much coffee left. Soon he would die and it would be as if nothing had happened... the old form/emptiness sutra. Lohbado laughed quietly. He watched a man take a key from the counter and head off to use the toilet.

Eventually Lohbado finished his coffee and left. There you have it... a micro-story....