Hard Rain

Bob Dylan's poem-song of 1962, written at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is often thought to be a protest song about nuclear war. But Dylan refuted this in an interview saying It's not atomic rain, it's not fallout rain... I just] mean some sort of end that's just got to happen. And photographer Mark Edwards shows us a new ending in no uncertain terms with his piercing, disturbing images of the ghastlier aspects of human experience in a damaged environment. Part of the poetry's wonder is that it can be interpreted in so many ways, including as a protest against racism, but it really does seem to speak very clearly of environmental damages. More importantly it expresses so beautifully the rage and pain we must all feel at all kinds of injustice and wanton destruction, and in the early 21st century, humanity's bashing of the planet's natural resources is forward in our minds