family photograph

family photograph

it might never be better
than this:

the close shouldered
assembly line smile,
forced against a sea
blue background.

neither of you
can work the camera.
instead you bicker over
who knows the least.

two round boys
clog themselves to the eyes
with vinegary chips.

one has the resigned face of his mother.
the other
an awkward way of speaking.
a worthless gift
from a y-chromosome.

you build frantic
lumped castles
from the shingle,
and the soft
slithering sea
rushes in.
rinsing your hopes away.