“Trained for a Single Photograph”

“Trained for a Single Photograph”

It’s something to look forward to,

living and dying in a single photograph,

laughing and loving in the shuddering,

breathing and suffocating in your image,

somewhere this year has already passed,

the real three of us together again,

the repeated disasters,

a rash of infrequencies,

your daughter, deserted at the altar;

your son, a bride at the bridge;

your horse, folded forever in flowers;

it’s a suntan, it’s my lips, it’s feminine;

there’s only so many roads

confusion in the alleyway to wipe away,

we’re cats in a spiral,

wild-eyed, fangs dug in to the tilt,

this sort of bar is raised above your dress,

I’m a howling owl

in need of water for someone

somewhere but we already started.

Tags: Nicholaus Patnaude, poem, poetry, trained for a single photograph