On Our Way Out

Words & Photography
by Elizabeth Kirby



"We're all on our way out—act accordingly." - Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in Scorsese's "The Departed" — one of my all time favorite movies, a little known fact. I've seen it likely 100 times. These peonies are on their way out and even more beautiful for it. Bringing me forever back to my refrain about the ephemeral being the most beautiful of all because we can't hold on to it; it's precious.

These peonies are on their way out and even more beautiful for it. Bringing me forever back to my refrain about the ephemeral being the most beautiful of all because we can't hold on to it; it's precious.

The sun through my kitchen window was making them glow just now, a last blaze of glory. They were once a deep magenta but have since faded to blush, withered around their edges. I like them much better this way. Of all the arts, floral and culinary are the most ephemeral, and as such they embody the wabi sabi ethos. There's irony in my photographing them...lost in translation...static in a dynamic process. Photos are shadows; life is even better, a mess of complexities and longing and loss. Of appetite and conviction and conflicts between.