The Girl in the Photo

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Jane Hyphen

Sat, 21 Jul 2018
  • 3771 reads
13 comments
 

 

She’s just a girl in a photo

We hold the corner and her gaze

And whisper, ‘Don’t look down.’

There’s frailty hidden in the frame

Cracks opened in our ground

And in she fell and down

Broke up like stars

And lived her life in all of us

Like diamonds in the dark

We speak of her on stilts

And fear the flat-faced fall

The shattering vice of grief

But she is fluid in our hearts

In the drag of time her memories

We distilled, her essence stored

Deep within a hardened seal of love

And wonder is she better off?

Out of this world where

Light hurts our eyes

The air stings our face

While we only yearn to open

Long closed doors

She’s just a girl in a photo

Frozen in time and yet

The meltwater of our tears

Does thaw her back to life

 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

does thaw her back to life, has a kind of oldy worldy feel. but, yeh, I get it. the girl in the photo is, in her way, us all. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Or 'doth' thaw her back to life...thank you celticman and for ye olde cherise...

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Sort of timeless, could be The Sleeping Beauty or a young runaway today.

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks elsie, she's actually a relative who was adopted, a sleeping beauty yes for some of us, we live in hope of a reunion one day.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I thought at first she had died, but knowing she is lost in the adopted sense gives a very different perspective, like someone searching for a parent who put them up for adoption. Such a long time, but the longing to know what life is like for her, where has she landed up.

I wondered if We speak of her on stilts refers to trying to imagine her taller, or elevating her achievements and stature as a person, in hope. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Rhiannon, thanks for your comment. It's a strange situation isn't it, knowing that somebody genetically close to you is living another life somewhere else. You still feel close to them though and it's inevitable that they think of their genetic family too but in what light, who knows.....x

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

These lines particularly:

In the drag of time her memories

We distilled, her essence stored

Deep within a hardened seal of love

And wonder is she better off?

I hope you get your reunion one day.

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Picture Credit: https://tinyurl.com/yc52cuyl

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Insert

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Insert

 

Submitted by thornwood on

I think of "cara delevinge" whos @ artist and visual poet when I read this in a kind of way cause when I was homeless and used to walk every day all over london I would constantly see caras face on all kinds of media like on advertising posters and I would think of her life and although she seemed like some queen of fashion, " which she is ", I realised she was just as human as anyone and must feel loss and lost like anyone this is why I write this paragraph.

Pure good your poem is excellent.

Stephen d

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks so much Dali, that's fascinating. There is something a little lost in Cara's eyes, I don't think she's as vain as the industry she's been a part of.

 

Submitted by Richard L. Prov... on

Really neat. Bravo!

Richard L. Provencher