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)

Beyond This Place… (2015 APR PAD - Day 25)

photo by PSC

Beyond This Place…

He dreamed of sailing far away

from his arid desert life;

to abide on a tropical island,

maybe take himself a wife.

He yearned to spend his autumn years

in the sway of a tall palm tree,

just lying in a hammock

in a calm and balmy lee.

But the maps said

there were creatures –

and his friends all told the tales

of fire breathing dragons

with wings and briny scales.

Still, the man set forth

despite his fears,

and traveled far and wide.

For many years, he wandered

‘til, at last, there did betide

a happening that changed his life 

when he headed too far west.

‘T was something one would not expect,

nor any could have guessed.

Fire breathing beasties!

They were awesome, fearsome things,

with talons sharp and pointed tails

and shiny, scaly wings.

But lest you think he’d breathed his last,

that’s not where his tale ended.

He’d found those creatures, yes indeed,

but, those dragons he befriended.

And please,

don’t think I make this up.

Now I don’t mean to be snide;

but the truth is,

later that same year,

he took one for his bride.

PSC/2015

The above poem is written in response to Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides APRIL PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge for Day 25 (an across the sea poem):  

2015-april-pad-challenge-day-25 

It's not too late... COME PLAY WITH US!