The Family Photo Crop
Original EveryPoem Studio house-voice poem.
The photographer says closer.
An uncle moves behind the tallest cousin.
A niece kneels in front,
complaining about the grass.
Someone's thumb enters the frame.
Someone else is looking away.
Years later, the imperfect photograph
becomes the one everybody asks for.
Not because we looked like a family,
but because nobody had learned yet
who would be missing.
58 words · 11 lines · Free Verse