Wim Wenders
Pictures from the Surface of the Earth

The "Picture Haiku's"

With all that loud music still ringing in my ears,
the shouts and the hammering
of the roadies disassembling the stage
seemed muted,
like an eerie silence,
forever the soundtrack to this picture.

33.
Meteorite Crater, West-Australia

I discovered this place on a map of Western Australia, years ago.
It was just marked with a circular sign saying
"Meteorite Crater".
I never made it there by car.
It would have taken a day or two
to reach it on the desert road
that leads past it, west of Alice Springs.
On a location survey with a small airplane, years later,
I asked the pilot to fly the detour.
He circled the enormous crater,
then landed on the dust strip next to it.
In the midday heat, I walked for an hour
into the middle of the giant circle.
I didn't take a picture there.
Seen from inside, the crater was invisible.

34.
The old Jewish quarter, Berlin

The sign says:
"So what?
It's not as bad as it looks."

35.
"The Field Of Blood", Jerusalem

The gospel according to Matthew reads:
"Judas realized that Jesus was doomed.
Overcome by remorse,
he gave back the 30 silver coins to the high priests, saying:
'I've sinned. I've betrayed an innocent man'.
They said: 'What do we care? That's your problem'.
Judas threw the silver coins into the Temple and left.
Then he went out and hung himself.
The high priest picked up the silver pieces,
but then didn't know what to do with them…
They decided to get rid of it by buying the "Potter's Field"
and use it as a burial place for the homeless.
That's how the field got called 'Murder Meadow',
A name that has stuck to this day."
Other translations call it "The Field Of Blood".
When I finally located the place,
south of the old city of Jerusalem,
it still seemed like the most haunted grounds
I had ever walked on.
Even the birds avoided it.

36.
On Alexanderplatz, Berlin

That was
when most of the Russian soldiers
had already left the former East Germany.
These looked so lost
in time.
Can you feel
how scratchy those coats are?

37.
Jerusalem Seen From Mount Zion

According to the Holy Scriptures,
those Jews who have the privilege
of being buried on Mount Zion
are the first ones to rise from the dead
on Resurrection Day.
If that happened in our times,
they would have to bear facing the El-Aktza Mosque
on the Temple Mount.

38.
The Road To Emmaus, Near Jerusalem

On the third day
after Jesus was crucified,
two of his disciples
walked sadly to the village of Emmaus,
about seven miles out of Jerusalem,
when they were joined by a stranger…
I found traces of the old Roman road.
It was getting dark,
when we arrived in Emmaus.

39.
Jerusalem Seen From The Mount Of Olives

Jesus often retreated
to the Mount of Olives
or spent the night there.
It is still a silent place today.
And there are still olive trees.

40.
Lake Galilee Before Sunrise

Every now and then a fish jumped up.
Birds were flying by in the far distance.
Nothing had changed, it seemed,
on Lake Galilee,
since Jesus had stopped here one morning,
two thousand years ago,
and said to two fishermen throwing out their nets:
"Come with me.
I will make a new kind of fisherman out of you…."
According to Matthew,
"They didn't ask questions,
but simply dropped their nets and followed."

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