Hot Springs, Arkansas, 10.2017: Bathhouses and Quapaw Murals — A Photographic Essay

Bathhouse Row (1)

Hot Springs, Arkansas 6.7.1997: Back Rooms and Preening Couples

Hot Springs today with Alcazar family. Looking at some multi-story brick building from the first part of the century, nestled back against the green mountains, only the bottom, storefront, portion now apparently used, I thought, “I wonder about the story of those now unused rooms. Whose lives took place there?” Then I thought, “These are my people—those of the unused back rooms, the stories that embroider the main story, and never quite get told.”

Observing the hideous young couples all over the city, I said to Steve, “Heterosexual coupling’s about so much more than sex. It’s about power, privilege, entitlement, the right to be and remain stupid, and to grow more stupid."

The two flashes of insight are connected. There’s a poem in the connection.