To Take a Photograph

The Photographer

Freezes action—

Photographs
A shut door
A half eaten sandwich
A conversation, with the next word unsaid
Half an explanation
Tomorrow never to arrive with the newspaper

A landscape blind
to the catastrophe arriving
after the town turns out the last light

A man leaning against a pole
unaware of the blue car ready to jump the curb

Constrained
Dependent on a piece of glass
The fish eye lens distorts the edges
The telephoto pulls the mountain into view

Explain to the viewers—
This is how it looked before the dust
buried the crops, before the earthquake
buried the people, before the snow melted,
You are seeing a piece of history
captured, manipulated, enhanced

The photographer documents the strike, the landslide,
the first day of school—
The children with distended stomachs,
The plight of refugees fleeing
The demarcation line
The portraits of leaders, tyrants, serial killers,
The marching band playing the national anthem
before the football teams take the field

The lens stops the years
For a moment you’re ten
Then sixteen wearing a corsage for a junior prom
Here’s a class photo
Remember that person on your left?
He died in Korea, Vietnam, —Iraq

The photographer pauses, distills the moment,
Adds a viewpoint to a perishable reality—
And it haunts the soul

L.W. (Photopoet) 2008©