Wim Wenders
Pictures from the Surface of the Earth

The "Picture Haiku's"

I remember the name of the deserted farm
this dust road was leading to:
"Gordon Downs".
There was a tennis court in the overgrown garden,
and it was still fenced.
Birch trees were growing out of its red clay,
and birds were nesting on the umpire's chair.

22.
Two Cars And A Woman Waiting, Houston, Texas

This was from inside out
of the beautiful parking structure
in Houston, Texas.
The woman was standing there in the heat,
waiting for the light to turn green,
when the two cars drove up.
Edward Hopper was a movie buff,
as I learned from his biography,
and I bet he's seen some of the early Hitchcocks…

23.
Joshua And John (Behind), Odessa, Texas

I can guess
how the wives
of the drivers
of the busses
of the Calgary Baptist Church
in Odessa, Texas
called their husbands
when they came home from work.

24.
Junk Yard, Coober Pedy, South Australia

It is so hot in Coober Pedy,
that most people live underground,
under those sandy mounts.
I stayed at the "Dug-Out Motel".
The main building material here is corrugated iron.
No other surface, I feel, lends itself so well to photography.

25.
Wall In Paris, Texas

If I had had a hammer,
I would have tried
to chip off more from that stucco
and uncover the entire precious fresco
underneath.
But I only had a camera.

26.
"The Valley Of The Winds", Northern Territory

This place is formed by a group of monoliths
called "The Olgas".
Today, you can¹t walk into the "Valley of the Winds" anymore.
It was declared a sacred site of the Aborigines.
They recognize mythical beings in these mountains,
from the beginning of time.
They are right.

27.
The "Bungle Bungles", West-Australia

The Bungle Bungles are an ancient coral reef.
Millions of years ago,
this part of West Australia
was covered by the ocean,
when it was still "Gondwanaland".

28.
"Lizard Rock", South Australia

We had slept on the sandy ground,
rolling out one of those mattresses
that the Australians call "swags".
The flies woke us up early in the morning,
just with the first ray of sunlight touching the high grass.
The night before, when we had chosen this place as a camp,
I hadn't noticed the nearby mountain.
I was out of my sleeping bag in a second,
to take this picture in my underwear.

29.
Beetle Cemetery, Coober Pedy, West Australia

This car cemetery
was on the outskirts of Coober Pedy,
a mining town in South Australia
with the biggest opal fields in the world.
These "Beetles"
were gems, too, in my book.

30.
In Omote-Sando, Tokyo

The "comme des garcons" store front
had changed a lot since I had last seen it.
A space-ship had landed,
with T-shirts for sale.

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