Old Photo Faces

What is in a box of old photos--other peoples photos? Behind the smiles and the poses are a thousand hidden words.

Old Photo Faces   

Shoebox or album. Reach for the past. Open a cover to the scent of a pungent journey, rich in the plot of lost years. How long was the story held captive by old photo-faces, that have smiled since boyhood, or the last child of Rose? 

Bound in a book, or this box-- what sighs now released in the turning, thumb-printing? Plow through glossy dreams in cream color, scallop borders, satin black and white. Standing too long in this pose-- rest and let a frown refresh you. 

Sleep in your tomorrows' other blessings. Don't hide the lines caught in a flash and held now decades for later that night, or next morning's light. Kodak never said it this way-- yet never told a lie. 

Looking through a book of years, a box of gray and black and white, what color the memories of time? And other cousins calling? Grampa. Never mind the missing years, retelling stories new-- other people's stories from the dust of this collection over-exposed and under-protected. And never seen till now.        

 

   ak 3/29/01 (rev. 4/1/01)