#polaroid
He rolls his cigarette paper
and looks at me like he means it.
"No."
"Okay. I won't."
He doesn't want his picture to be taken,
it's fine.
I've engraved him in my heart already.
But loving a writer is worse than
loving a photographer—
for a man who doesn't want his picture to be taken.
For all I know, he's hidden on every page,
between every letter I carved with my pen.
This portrait might take longer to develop than a Polaroid,
but it won't fade with time.
And I can do it without him even noticing.
He can't object; no one else would know it,
which is probably why he just silently
blows the smoke out.
Oct 14, 2025
Oct 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM UTC
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 ask
“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
It will make them feel as if they went back in time
and see their younger self with a silly pose
with their friends around them as I count to
1
Oct 13, 2024
Oct 13, 2024 at 9:36 PM UTC
You glare into the lens with smoldering eyes
Your ghost
A fiery whisp of your soul
Hungry and straining to yank itself out from under your clenched jaw
Bite down hard
Watch the blood spill from your stone tongue
Into my plastic solo cup
Your tooth floats to the top
Quickly swarmed by genial bubbles
Mocking our leaden embrace
Pop pop pop
We fall to the floor
Breaking our bones in a fit of giggles
Jan 1, 2024
Jan 1, 2024 at 2:27 PM UTC
I keep your polaroids
in the scarlet pouch
laced with memories of our childhood
I have your polaroid
glued on my journal with
some dried fragrant
dandelions to keep you alive
in my head
I keep you caged in a polaroid
and maybe that's all I have,
that's YOU
Feb 23, 2022
Feb 23, 2022 at 2:47 PM UTC
Kept in a box
Back of the closet
Remnants of time
Curios of place
Before she was
Someone's mother
London Bridge
Houseboat
Out on the water
Fun with inner tube
Pink lipstick
Little black bikini
Games afoot
Cocktail in hand
Sunny smile
Saucy wink
Natural grace
Hair let down
Playful air
Provocative pose
Naked as a Jaybird
Happy as a Lark
Mar 12, 2020
Mar 12, 2020 at 2:49 PM UTC
one thing we are never told
pictures taken in polaroid
have a way of fading over time
very much like you and me
and the picture we used to be
no longer has that kodachrome shine
it happens to the best of us
the color fade of wanderlust
bringing out the worst in black and white
one thing i'm relying on
although i'm barely hanging on
is the picture of us left in my mind.
Mar 11, 2020
Mar 11, 2020 at 12:07 AM UTC
I've been trying to fill a void
It's gruesome work really
So many ******* Polaroids
With nothing to see really
I still don't remember when
This dark empty whole appeared
I just remember you left, then
He sat there, as if he'd been here
At least the night, she holds stars
This presence, sits next to me
Smoking cigarettes, eating bars
I think it too wants to forget me
He's even tried to swallow me whole
Taking over every single blood cell
I was so drunk, he almost had my soul
I couldn't do anything, but ******* yell
Now he just sits next to me
Trying again...
Every other sad week
Oct 6, 2019
Oct 6, 2019 at 11:41 PM UTC
I can smell your perfume on the polaroid!
I can still taste your lips when I lick mine!
I was somewhere lost in the deep void!
Emptiness of your eyes looking just fine!
Surrounded by the full white chaos!
I don't remember where I was!
We made some great memories!
Captured through eyes in our brain!
I have collected all the stories!
I have collected happiness and pain!
I have collected mistakes and crimes!
All we were doing was havin' a good time!
-Vivek!
Sep 18, 2019
Sep 18, 2019 at 11:28 AM UTC
A taxi drove past
at two in the morning,
blurring through the street lamp halo
painted on the sidewalk.
A click.
Flash frozen,
stuck speeding stationary,
clipping the spotlight.
And the night hanging off the lamp pole
does not appreciate
being caged away
Apr 21, 2019
Apr 21, 2019 at 2:08 PM UTC
summer nights are best spent with you.
greedily scarfing down ice cream,
watching our feet touch the sky from old playground swings.
and the ones in your mom’s car
-the soft music, the hard music
singing to melodies that we’ll never know.
each night, we feel each’s wishes.
i, i want to give you fairs, and cotton candy,
and hold your hand as we walk along the sidewalk.
i want to twirl you around,
because though we’re very summer friends
i want to keep you forever.
our feet scrape the gravel,
toes tap the sidewalk,
noses breathe in the air.
distinctly, i remember something
-us in a concert,
our shoulders brushing as we danced.
i remember laughing with you in the water,
because i hated being short,
so naturally i had to climb you.
i remember every year
we laugh away these nights,
until they become memories.
they, were, definitely,
polaroid worthy.
you’d give a blank look.
and then spring would come again,
and we’d be sitting in your mom’s car,
watching the sunset again.
remember this?
Aug 19, 2018
Aug 19, 2018 at 4:38 PM UTC
Is this your heart
Or a Polaroid?
Thick white borders hiding
The true picture inside.
May 6, 2018
May 6, 2018 at 11:51 AM UTC
As a kid growing up
All the way up til now
The one super power I've always wished for
Is to stop time
Because I've had problems
with saving the moment I have
Everything else seems to get in the way
But then you came along
And now my super power is any moment I have with you
Because in those moments the rest of the world stops for a little while
Time stops for a little while
And now in my pocket
A polaroid lies
And let's me stop time whenever I need
Whenever I look at you
So it seems my wish came true
Because now, I have you.
Apr 10, 2018
Apr 10, 2018 at 4:54 AM UTC
Stems of light, apprehended,
comprised in a frame
of fuzzy, speckled imagery.
Memories etched, staining time
along spectrums once focused
with refined precision.
Apparitions of past fragments,
transcend; condensed on fabric
weaved through the eye of a lens.
Feb 27, 2018
Feb 27, 2018 at 5:39 PM UTC
Physical cease, she fade to black as an apparition
reminiscing, playing host to these phantom visions
same derision, paint her frame through a jaded prism.
Canvas stained, splash my page with a grave incision.
Her blade caressed with fatal precision.
Unstable conditions got me spinning off my axis,
Piece myself together pulling ashes from the fragments.
Left murmuring the captions to memories captured,
polaroid backdrops that descend into blackness.
Feb 6, 2018
Feb 6, 2018 at 7:25 AM UTC
I wait
for our fate
like I wait
for a Polaroid
Jan 23, 2018
Jan 23, 2018 at 8:56 PM UTC
"When you're lonely,
what do you do?"
"I take pictures
of my favorite places."
"But why do you
keep taking
pictures of the same spots?"
"Because sometimes,
I wish
you'd appear
in one of them."
Oct 18, 2017
Oct 18, 2017 at 9:24 AM UTC
Polaroids do no justice
To the life I made for you
You signed your name in black
And let the film fade to blue
Like being front row to a tragedy
I can't look away but it hurts to see
These times are a memory I'd like to forget
But I can't wash away the bruises it left
I'll keep your smile by my side
And your voice in my mind
As my life flashes before my eyes
And we turn into a silver sky
Oct 12, 2017
Oct 12, 2017 at 10:46 AM UTC
You and me,
we stand together smiling,
in the perfect lighting,
fine dress, pleasant weather,
momentarily existing,
momentarily loving,
away from reality,
just us and a sunny day,
I guess we forgot
we were just moulded clay,
and when the rain came
we got washed away,
now you're just a memory in a polaroid,
tucked in an old book I tend to avoid.
Aug 31, 2017
Aug 31, 2017 at 11:05 AM UTC
You were early morning fog that keeps rolling in on grassy hilltops.
Green covered in red and yellow and brown; a place where the living meets the dying.
Cool, minty breath, and the image of you rolling down that hill with a pumpkin in hand will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Orange hair, dark freckles on your face, pretty black tights and a bright yellow jacket that was almost too obnoxious for the beginning of September.
"When did the Autumn become the saddest season?" I asked her as she sipped her coffee as black mascara fell down her pink freckled cheeks.
Aug 30, 2017
Aug 30, 2017 at 6:54 PM UTC
The Sea was your favorite place to be- you were sitting with your legs submerged and your blonde hair falling along the curve of your shoulders-
When the waves came rolling in I remember you jumping up and laughing a laugh that would have made the gods envious-
You wore big, black sunglasses and a dark red bathing suit that covered the most sensual parts according to society-
But I loved the curve of your back and the way you shivered when I ran my fingers up towards your spine-
I loved your clavicle and how you smiled when my lips kissed them softly --
I loved your long, smooth legs, and how you wrapped them around my waist-
"What happened to us last summer?" he said to himself when he saw her at the beach with another man.
Aug 28, 2017
Aug 28, 2017 at 12:37 PM UTC