Asheville's Night Creatures
(the Asheville the guidebooks don't tell you about)
Each night, as the moon begins to rise over Asheville,
and the day tourists and sightseers desert
the streets to lie tucked away for the night
in their little rented rooms,
dreaming of the next day's adventures ...
the fantastical creatures of Asheville awaken, adorn themselves,
and venture outside.
Steampunk geishas, exotic dancers, zombie bunnymen, painted fairies, and other spirits of the night
emerge from the shadows...
to reclaim their streets
~ lighting up the night with their presence.
It's during these dark hours that some of the most
mysterious and dazzling denizens of Asheville ~
fluff their wings and romp the streets,
delighting in nocturnal carousing and merrymaking ~
partying and playing all night long...
in abandoned warehouses of long ago,
and other forgotten dark corners.
Here, hidden away from curious eyes,
they hang out...
or hang on
or hang upside down,
batlike ~
until dawn tiptoes over the mountains
signaling a cessation to the night's revelries.
As day begins to break,
the streets are once again returned
to the unsuspecting day visitors ~
with only a hint of what is to come
the next time the sun sets on Asheville.
© Kristin Fellows 2012
(All images shot with a Canon)