Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Examined Life

     The Photographer
     Freezes action—and
Photographs
A shut door
A half eaten sandwich
A conversation in medias res 
with the next word unsaid 
Half an explanation

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

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

Constrained
Dependent upon 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
The demarcation line
The portraits of leaders, tyrants, serial killers
The marching band playing the national anthem
before the football teams take they field

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

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


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