I dislike the photographs,
layers of lying light, the silver halide
crystals stirred into chemical lies
memory is not this.
Where is the cyan, magenta, yellow,
that show the maps you traced in the sand?
or how much you loved custard
and hiking, and birds, and us?
The process fails - it omits
the salt-sharp taste of the surf,
the sweet tang of strawberry wax,
your tight grip on the board.
Bleach fixes nothing - the dyes can't
Unbury you, animate you
No capture recalls
how you steadied my bike,
how your finger wagged, silly and stern,
how you told the nurses, “Don’t touch.”
(They left your beard - a small rebellion)
The lightning in your hyperchromatic eyes -
Dog walk mornings, horseback afternoons,
your hand cutting the sea as you kiteboarded close —
gone, gone, gone.
Silver turns to color that lies:
cyan for reds, magenta for greens,
yellow for blues. None of it you.
None of it true.
A final wash seals you into permanence
but you've faded into hollow absence.
With Love,
Are you on HIVE yet? Earn for writing! Referral link for FREE account here
His legacy lives on in you, you're beauiful poetry, and your son. Maybe physically gone but unforgettable. ❤️
It's not hollow, sweetheart, though maybe it feels so at the time. He's there, so very there (as is evident in this poem and in all of your posts). Photographs were never meant to be memories, just to help those memories along <3 He's not lost.
💓💓💓💓 I do think photographs can shape memory though, and emphasize some memories at the cost of others. My brain is trying to retain sound, movement, feeling - the photographs aren't good at that.
We keep wishing we could just get those we’ve lost out of the photographs we have of them. To hear their voices once more, see them frown, smile and everything in between. 🥹
This poem perfectly captures the feeling of missing someone and how photos just aren't enough most times.
I enjoyed assimilating the essence of everything that you’ve shared. 🌹
Thankyou. have you ever seen how a Google phone will get a heap of your still photos and stitch them together like a video? Poor mum.. she was looking through her photos and it did that with some images of Dad, walking across the kitchen toward her with a silly look on her face. She is so sad.
You are lucky in that you have such clear memories. The photos are most of what I have left, as the memory is damaged...
@goldenoakfarm oh darling. Yes. I just was frustrated today as I wanted to recall HIM, not just the photos. Does the feeling or essence of him remain with you?
Some of it, but mostly, it's the farm, which he was such a large part of. Everywhere are things he built or made. And it was such a labor of love. He loved the farm, almost as much as he loved fishing...
Good one hinting on a missing significance.
So what do you want to do to show the significance all you meant.
Are you going to write in down tone always.
True picture is not enough.
Go get your copy of it meant.
@riverflows, you're rewarding 1 replies from this discussion thread.