Mr. Picture-Taker (NaPoWriMo 2006)

April 25, 2006

Mr. Picture-Taker

His pictures told a thousand wordless stories:
the crags that no man put a booted foot on,
the broken bulbs in lightless rooms, the glories
of a sundown cloudburst. The man who put on
a fake nose and ruffled dresses to get the shot
of nervous children, calm now, sniffle free
and grinning, also has his proper lot
of upper-crusters, those who pay the fee
and then ignore the art. He framed them all
at sad distances, not the focal point.
He lets them stare at him now, covered wall
of gray, and blocks the voices that anoint
the space between observed and maker shut,
cropping the story out, the needed cut.