The Photographer: Self Portrait

Between us, this box through which I look
At you and you cannot

See the sorrow I bring from years of capturing
Moments that never will come again.

When we die, I’ve been told, we really
Die twice: when we settle into breath’s absence

And when no one on this earth
Knows who we are in photos left behind.

Yet how can I stop myself? The glory of
This moment, your very soul in your eyes.

Eugene, Oregon, poet Ingrid Wendt is the author of five books of poems and co-editor of two anthologies. A musician by avocation, she was a visiting writer in public schools and universities throughout the US and abroad for 30 years. Recent poems appear in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Terrain, Calyx, About Place, and others. IngridWendt.com

 

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