I used to have a camera back then
A polaroid camera
It was a small, aqua blue camera that also had a camera bag
And during the last day of school in 8th grade
I brought it to take pictures with my friends
I didn’t want to be in the photos though
Just want to create memories with every flash sound that came from the camera
All my friends will do silly poses as I count
3
2
1
And when I press the button, it will then create a flashback
that my friends can look back on in the future
when time went on other people that were in other friend groups would
“Can you take a pic of me and my friends”
And I nod my head signaling yes
I was seen as a photographer that last day of 8th grade
And I loved it
Because every photo
Will create a smile on their faces
That same smile will then appear again when they take that pic home with them
Who knows what they will do with the picture
Put on the wall
Put it in a time capsule
Or maybe in a drawer filled with *******
But I know that one day
They’ll look back at it in a couple of years
And a flashback will flow into their head
The flashback will make them feel as if they went back in time
and see their younger self with a silly pose
with friends around them as I count to
1

Spy pigeon, oh spy pigeon,
perched high across my window
Bio engineered and slave,
Remote robot to unseen
master's master's whims
Chip in brain, camera in eye,
satcoms under its feathers
But Nature still reigns,
for here comes lady pigeon,
and off they flew and never return

All you had to do was zoom in...
You would have seen that my smiling mask
         was cracking..
My bright eyes
          were dimming..
My very soul
          was fading..
Maybe you could have saved me.
Maybe you could have listened.
           To think...
  All you had to do was zoom in...

I want to see the northern lights
but I cannot say why

it is said that sometimes
if conditions are right
you can see them from here

but it never seems to work
for me

even if the sky is clear
I cannot see them
when I am told I might

others say they have seen them here
I don’t think I believe them

some set a camera
on very long exposure
to take their picture

I can’t stare at the sky
for a very long time
all at once
like a camera

maybe I want to see them
because I haven’t seen them before

there are other things I want to see
but never have

like the life I was meant to have
with you

maybe if I’d had
a better camera

rain illuminates
the pathway
by virtue of street lights
iridescent
in the vapour
past the drug dealers house
to the dark shadows
of conifers
whose outline hides
the shape of potential
muggers lying in wait
I watch through the arrow slit
of the bathroom transom window
of my fortress home
cleaning my teeth
while my ring doorbell's
paranoid cyclops eye
keeps vigil

I miss the satisfaction
of that little lever
advancing cellulose
frame by frame
for an unseen exposure
until developer hits film
producing an image
clicked at 1/60th of a second
in time

That brief moment
Walking into the shaded apartment to find you reading in flannel
And everything in me jumps
The camera obscura of my iris snaps,
Suspending you in amber light.
The tapered elegance of your fingers across a page
A glint of Versailles blue-gold eyes
And fortified ramparts of your shoulders.
I will carry this vestige with me
In a petticoat pocket
Until we are old
And your arms do not lift me as you just did
The last strand of your hair is silver
And your cheeks sink with age like your father’s.
These small gems of youth
Of promise
To keep in a sleeve until they are needed
And the mirrors show reflections we cannot change