Backswept

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment 

that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”  ― Karl Lagerfeld

Backswept

Sepia memories intermingle

with Kodachrome moments,

souvenirs, snapshots of faces,

spaces and times gone by.

People and places

pulled out of the past;

revisited, recalled

in all their guises,

at group gatherings or

in solitary reminiscence.

Familiar ferrotypes, candid captures,

airbrushed blowups – tokens

of the graceful and clumsy,

adored and disgraced,

the chosen and those

fallen from favor, both

remembered and forgotten,

strangers and loved ones

held and lost along the way.

 Mementos stored,

hoarded in boxes, albums,

tucked into cupboards

and crates and cranium,

wrinkled and torn in places,

faded, delicate, thin-skinned;

but all the more cherished

for being bittersweet.

  

PSC/2015

The above poem was written in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides APRIL PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge for Day 27 (a looking back poem):  2015-april-pad-challenge-day-27

Today, it is dedicated to mothers everywhere.

Happy Mothers' Day!

ALSO SEE: 

Before I Knew (Mothers Day 2012)

Flowers for Mothers' Day (2013)