Photoshoot

[Delta40]

There is a black curtain
which ripples in the breeze.

Peace may be found here
amid a loud whirring fan.

It cools the suffocating reality
without giving fresh hope.

This, my only backdrop
is a setting most apt.

I stand there.
Lean to one side
Then the other.

What to do with my hands
Fold arms across me.
No.

Interlaced fingers.
Shoulders pulled back
Hands tucked behind.

Does it matter?
They won't be in the picture.

Yet they twiddle
as if there is no place left
to store trembling bewilderment.

A uniform orders me to hold
a square board.
Ah!
Relief.

Now I comprehend why.
Why I am here.
My purpose in this farce.

I let it flow freely
down my wobbly legs
to collect in the place
that I deserve to sink.

Here, against the blackness
of my life.

Rippling peace
Whirring tension.

I read the plaque upside down
and hope, if nothing else,
my birth date is correct.

[hillwalker]

A new take on limbo - that stage of afterlife between death and whatever you might believe follows. The processing of the soul described so effectively it made me shudder.

H

[everyadventure]

I envisioned someone being processed for a stretch in the pen.

You did such a fine job showing us the speaker's emotions. I feel uneasy just reading it!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Those last three lines - especially "if nothing else" - brrrr.!

What, one is obliged to imagine, could the something else be? The date of her execution or death? The mention of some alleged frailty or moral lapse...?

You are in a bleak cycle, dear Delta! I hope it doesn't betoken an unshakable state of mind.

[Hawkman]

You're on a roll, Delta. Very well written and enjoyable read.

LLAP - H

[Delta40]

I don't feel in a bleak cycle.....

I like the interpretations my fellow-litnetters have given it. You are all amazingly insightful.

[Jerrybaldy]

I also went for the criminal picture..

[Delta40]

It has a criminal element to it, I will admit but I like the idea of laying there reading my own tombstone the wrong way up

[Haunted]

I saw a mugshot on first read, the second time with your idea in mind, it's totally cool.

[AuntShecky]

An excellent piece, not a word wasted in an "apt" picture of what a photo shoot is like. The black backdrop image returns in the final lines, tying the whole thing together.
I also admire how the lines appear on the "page."

I suspect that much thought went into this piece, as it shows.