Plate II: The Boulevards at Paris
There's a gulf in perception
between artist and technician
the former walks in eternity; the latter has a spanner
and no soul
Young girls do not disrobe for him
galleries do no open for him,
writers do not write about him
except to note that he was an engineer
who developed such-and-such a process
at a certain date
quote it was not until the artist arrived
that the process had meaning
the engineer's photographs
had no soul unquote
Never mind his eye for composition
his choice of subject, his decision
he was not an artist
just a technician
with his workshop;
not a studio, or atelier
although the magic was the same
it was a workshop
defined by the role
imposed on him
because he was a technician
no soul
