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“Shark Legacy In The Berkeley Shark Van”

By Bes Zain on April 3, 2010 in Observations 3 Comments

Berkeley is a city many people associate with weirdness. Good or bad, the weirdness is usually a result of people wanting to be different or themselves without the pressures of the society. These pressures are usually slopes that tend to roll down people into a pile of red tape, in case someone wants to do something that puts a bad name to the reputation of that society. While Berkeley tends to call itself a hippie or a trendy culture, it can in fact, when observed, can be seen as a city that takes many qualities of San Francisco and applies them to a quieter, less hyper and in many cases a safer area called Berkeley.

Shark van, shark van, who are you?
Shark van, shark van, what are you?
Shark van, shark van, who drives you?
Shark van, shark van, where are you?

Berkeley houses many different types of visual differences compared to many of the neighboring cities. Even San Francisco, which exceeds Berkeley in many levels, has random exhibits of emotions and ideas in people and the artifacts that are visible to both the people and the cameras. Whether one is on Facebook or on MySpace, people in Berkeley can walk around with almost any attire in many of the different areas around the UC Berkeley campus. This Shark Van in Berkeley is one of such artifacts in Berkeley which differs than many, if not most, of the vehicles in San Francisco. While it is unknown whether the Shark Van can conquer the heights of the hilly roads in San Francisco, it is very clear that the Shark Van exists to conquer the curiosity, or visual satisfaction, of many observers.

Who drives the Shark Van? What is is used for? I am not sure. I would love to find out. I have seen the Shark Van drive by me more than once when I used to live in Berkeley. Then, the thoughts of where to eat the next Thai food or which movie to watch that night immediately followed the happy face that came around after seeing the Shark Van. Now, I have to think about the Shark Van and wonder about the reasons behind and around it, and the reasons it creates for other things.

Shark van, shark van, can I ride with you?
Shark van, shark van, I am scared if you carry candy with you?
Shark van, shark van, who was it that made you?
Shark van driver, shark van driver, do you eat vegetables, or do you eat shark and tofu?

So here is the Shark Van. Found in Berkeley in this picture. The actual shark, or the driver, may live nearby.

3 Comments on “Shark Legacy In The Berkeley Shark Van”

“Overseeing the dead.”

By Bes Zain on October 2, 2009 in Observations 4 Comments

The angel of the graveyard, staring like a guard,
sitting over here, overseeing the dead,
waiting patiently for each new body,
to be brought to its final resting bed.

People think of angels,
to feel alive since birth,
though this angel can feel them,
dead and deep within the earth.

We are told to think of angel wings,
to feel shelter and comfort,
but this angel uses its wings,
to induce your death and inert.

It sits there with its wings,
overshadowing its own shadows,
it watches directly in confusion,
over the dead tombstone rows.

They take its picture in the day,
feeling attracted to the design of the tomb,
they feel it is a symbol of life and death,
and a feeling of what lies beyond the doom.

People putting down flowers,
and also pictures to weep,
the angel finds them interesting,
the memories people want to keep.

People hate the angel of death,
for everyone says that angel kills you.
But why should we hate it only,
when it is one of angels too?

Let it oversee us and the dead,
for we are all headed somewhere too.
Let it sit there waiting for us,
for we are somehow waiting for it to move.

Photographer: Katie.
Location: Mountain View Cemetery. 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611, USA.
Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

4 Comments on “Overseeing the dead.”

“Portrait of Graveyard Macro Flowers.”

By Bes Zain on September 24, 2009 in Observations 2 Comments

Portrait of Graveyard Macro Flowers.

The dead never sleep,
the dead never stay,
the dead are not alone,
for them you are to pray.

Many look at graveyards,
and think of a sorrowing demise,
they see the end of everything,
a place simply haunted at night.

“Fear everything in graveyards!”,
their voices want to say,
“for it is not a place to hide,
but a place to forever reside.”

People jog here,
and people mourn too,
people relax here,
and dogs wet trees too.

Look here, a small flower,
growing up by the dead,
it is full of life and vitality,
for it also feeds on the dead.

Flowers, plants, and animals too,
everyone is here to live.
You think graveyards make animals quiet?
animals and flowers are quiet in your home too.

Enjoy the view, look at the flower,
resist the urge to be very quiet,
relax, observe, this is part of the view,
like everything else, this takes a cue.

This is a portrait,
so they may want to know,
will you focus on many things,
or solely on what’s below?

Location: Mountain View Cemetery. 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611, USA.
Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

2 Comments on “Portrait of Graveyard Macro Flowers.”

“Dolls can chill. Or Die.”

By Bes Zain on August 30, 2009 in Observations 3 Comments

Dolls can chill. Or Die. By Bes Zain

Ahh yes, the doll. An abomination. A scary beast. Something to not look at. Something to not touch. Something to not talk about. Some things that many typical guys think of when they think of the word “doll.”

I found this with Katie outside of Popeye’s in Pittsburg in California.

What to write about this thing,
that lays on the ground,
is it ok to call it a “thing”,
or does it have a real crown?

A “doll”, many people call it,
an abomination, as many people see it,
it is something used to define sexes,
it is something used to bring happiness.

She lies there looking up, if she is a she,
looking at others pass her by, are they all free?
People look at her and get surprised,
they take her pictures, and then they pass her by.

Do people wonder what she is doing there?
Or do people wonder why she is not theirs?
What do people think when they accidentally step on her?
What does she think when people ignore her?

Does it matter if she does not move like others,
she is laying there, like anyone would on a bed,
it seems as if she is simply bored, or is observing everyone else,
trying to see what others do and try to move ahead.

All dressed to party, or all dressed to die,
either way the concept of her, really wants to fly,
so someone takes picture, of this particular doll,
off to do other things, passing by the doll.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

3 Comments on “Dolls can chill. Or Die.”

“There is no Z in coffee?”

By Bes Zain on July 22, 2009 in Observations Comment

They drink the coffee, or they go mad,
coffee gives them life, otherwise they’re sad,
they sip the liquid, and then they’re glad,
they want it now, to live life on a drinking fad.

“You don’t know your coffee?“, they ask me surprised,
“I can have my own coffee?“, I ask them back, surprised,
depend on a liquid they do, to fight their demise,
if i don’t drink coffee, they throw at me some spites.

Leave me be, coffee people, I will drink when I want,
Coffee people can keep forcing others to be zombies over obligatory taunts,
I want to enjoy this when I want, not as your obligatory depending cult,
there is no Z in coffee, so you can keep dreaming “but!”

Also on Facebook. On Flickr. On BrightKite. On MySpace. On Twitter. On TwitPic.

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“Jump through no-see/talk/listen zone?”

By Bes Zain on July 16, 2009 in Observations, Personal 1 Comment

"Jump through no-see/talk/listen zone?" - by Bes Zain

One day in SF I saw two heads,
one was leaning & one upset,
I wondered “wth?” and what they wanted,
heads heads heads heads heads.

I asked the head on the left,
“why you rolling? is that your bed?”,
I got no reply, just a weird wince,
wince wince wince wince wince.

I was kind of scared to talk,
to the upset face on the right,
he was yelling & did not see,
me me me me me.

Apparently the two had somehow met,
earlier in life on an emotional set,
the two had never gotten along,
fight fight fight fight fight.

The one on the right felt ignored,
he felt like the other always acted bored,
the one on the right had many complaints,
damn this damn this damn this.

The one on the left felt abused,
he was asked for favors and kind of felt misused,
by the one on the right he always accused,
used bruised refused confused.

So now instead of a visual landmark,
I got stuck with two fighting sharks,
oh I just wanted to make new friends,
dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

I could ask the right what he said,
and I could ask the left what he felt,
but then I thought of the pain that would ensue,
subdue subdue subdue.

So I decided to bid farewell to the two,
but talking or listening would only be moot,
so I jumped through the danger loop,
jump through escape through jump through!

Photographer: Katie.
Related: “Communicate yes or no.”
Also on Facebook. On Flickr. On BrightKite. On MySpace. On Twitter. On TwitPic.

1 Comment on “Jump through no-see/talk/listen zone?”

The ending fields, the departing sun, the observing child

By Bes Zain on June 27, 2008 in Observations Comment

It was around sunset, in the corners of the unsunk lands of Berkeley in California. No motor cars. No bikes. No cell phones. No technology, other than the fabrics on the bodies and the thoughts in the mind. I could see a father laying down for rest all the way to the left, the mother sitting to the right, and the child standing all the way to the right. Or were they simply a male, female and a child? Was I even right about the genders? I am not sure. The man was looking up straight to the sky. The female in the middle was looking straight while sitting down on the grass.

It was the child that caught my attention. There was nothing special about the child. I did not even see to make sure if it was a short person who was a child from within, or someone who was a child. This child, as I should call this being, stood a bit diagonal to the other male and female, facing an angle from the front that crossed paths as an intersection and an angle with what the female was looking at straight, and with what the male was looking at above him. Maybe the child was a robot. Maybe the child was a zombie. Maybe the child was everything in a being that enchanted and amazed the mind into standing in such a situation and wondering how glorifying such a situation may be. (more…)

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