I wrote this poem awhile ago, but on reading Hopper's post about photos I thought of it and looked it up.
Photos as Evidence of Love
Me as a child: many, I was a doll.
None from college, Cleveland or
San Francisco. We were too
cool for cameras.
Wonder what I looked like then?
From the marriage:
mostly my son, one or two
of my ex, a few of me.
From Richard's time:
lots of me.
Then, ten years blank.
Wonder what I looked like then?
Until Mort, then lots of me again.
Some matted and framed.
And from his last visit, a few
I hadn't known he'd snapped:
Me walking on the canal.
At the bookstore.
Picking blueberries.
My hair (grey in the mirror)
white and wild about my head.
Three years ago that was.
I wonder what I look like now?
Please note this spacing is all messed up. I transferred this from Word and I've been trying to correct it here on the blog post but I haven't the patience.
20 comments:
Very nice. It made me think about my own patterns of being photographed or not.
full of emotions... full of thoughts. and much said between the lines...
now you look like
a doll
who's got life
who gives life
who knows life
who is life...
love to you, Suki
your poem had a kind of magic; i've read it several times and love to read it again and again....
My father upon renewing his driver's license replied "brown" when asked his hair color. The clerk at the DMV looked at him and said, "excuse me sir, your hair is not brown". (chuckle) It's gray.
Beautiful Suki!
I hate being photographed, so I can identify with the "what did I look like" question.
But you are a reflection of what is inside, and I have an inkling from what you post here YOU ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL!
Peace!
kikipotamus, good to hear from you. I havent checked in with you for awhile and will soon. Thanks for your comment.
hb you know the BeeGee's song "Bein' Alive" has been churning in my head today. I almost broke out in a dance which wld have freaked out Mom who has already determined I do not behave like a 60 year old.
Chewy, great story. It's true I dont see the grey either when picturing me in my head. It's always a shock to really look.
Thanks Kim for your kind thoughts.
Its so true. We never see ourselves as we are. I have old photos of me that I thought were horrible when taken and now I wish I DID look like that now. In Ten years I will wish I looked like I do now that I hate. lol
I have blank spots in my life without photos that my parents never took so I guess thats why I photograph everything now. Good poem. Very thoughtful.
I like this poem. It kind of reminds me of old cards that I keep in a shoebox, because they were sentimental to me at the time, and then going back and reading them later ... I liked the repetition of that wonder, wonder, wonder ...Nice new picture at the top, suki! (and glad you found civilization and food in your adventure below ...)
Well Cris said it for me...I am forever finding old photos that when they were taken I thought I looked too fat, or my hair was awful or something was wrong, and then looking at them now saying, wow, I looked good then, I wish I looked like THAT NOW! Funny humans we are. So now when I balk at a photo of me, I tell myself, it will look good in twenty years! ;-)
That helps.
Good provocative poem. Got us all thinking.
This so reminded me of ME,,Gaps in photo time. I avoid the camera now like it were the plague. Usually, I am the one taking the photos anyway,,,and that's okay by me.I look back now at the old photos where I only THOUGHT I looked old, LOL!
Cris, you are a fabulous recorder of your life and the world around you. Though most often behind the camera. Do you wonder about those gaps in your parents photo taking? I think parents take lots of little kids, less as the kids grow up. At least that's the way it is in my family photo albums.
Thanks Honor. Sorry the poem was so mish mashed. I should have just typed it into the blogger post rather than transferring it from Word.
Thanks Lynn. Yeah, I imagine twenty years from now I'll think 62 was a "baby." Certainly thirty-two seems so. :) thanks for calling the poem provocative.
Babs I'm not so fond of having my picture taken now either. However, with the new digital technology they can erase all wrinkles and so forth. Tidy the image up. Although that's kinda fake. It's interesting to note that some writers keep their book jacket photo for many years, same photo. I admire the ones who take a current photo.
I hate having my picture taken. I remember avoiding it over the years and occasionally somebody would take my picture anyway. Now I look at those pictures when "I looked so terrible" and I wonder why I have never had an accurate vision of myself because I looked fine back then. Now? I look terrible, so please don't take my picture. LOL ;-)
i simply adore old photos, specially the black and white ones. and i know that if my house were to burn down tomorrow, the only thing i'd grab would be my photos, as they are my history,
i like your greay hair a lot, i wish mine were fully grey, instead of this sort of 'salt and pepper' stuff on my head! see, we're never satisfied!
Sandpiper, I guess such things say a lot about our perspectives at any given moment and how subjective they are, even when we think they are objective.
FY Oh my, I do love the old photos too. I have an album of my grandparents, great-grands, my dad and less so of my mom as kids. My son. Well we started into color pics then. I mourn that they are in the storage unit prob getting ruined.
Wonderful words, Suki. As if I walked in your footsteps. Seeing with your eyes, looking at a distant Suki, looking for the now-Suki:)
love
Andrea
Thanks andrea. But wonder what I look like now????
again here to read this beautiful poem...
how i loved to see these:
And from his last visit, a few
I hadn't known he'd snapped:
thanks Human Being. Yes, that line is one that others have commented on. Mort, so clumsy in the world, so poetic himself. Snapping pictures with the camera I gave him. He too has now died. As has the Richard of the poem.
This is wonderful Suki!
I visit Hopper's blog and your 2 post made my think........ it hasn't crystallized out yet, but I like this proces.
Thaks for leading me to Hopper and all these thoughts.
I know how you look from the rear and I got a glimpse from the inside, both are beautiful!
Thanks Marianne. I had to think for a moment about what you meant re: you know what I look like from the rear. Then i recalled that photo. and thanks for your kind comment re: beautiful inside and out. Be well, Suki
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