Snapshots

[PrinceMyshkin]

There I was
alone on the terrace
outside the café
on a damp park bench,
knowing that something
was going to happen,
as it always does, and

if nothing happened,
that would be all right, too

[PrinceMyshkin]

I sit in the sunshine
that is practically liquid on my face
and think of the option I have
to not write a poem,
to let the day be, the traffic
rolling by, the two girls
with the amazingly long legs
seated behind me,
the hum of the unseen...

[kiz_paws]

There I was
alone on the terrace
outside the café
on a damp park bench,
knowing that something
was going to happen,
as it always does, and

if nothing happened,
that would be all right, too

I smiled reading this. It was the kind of poem that gives me a hug unexpectedly. Merçi beaucoup.

I sit in the sunshine
that is practically liquid on my face
and think of the option I have
to not write a poem,
to let the day be, the traffic
rolling by, the two girls
with the amazingly long legs
seated behind me,
the hum of the unseen...

Well, your snapshot definitely caught those legs alrighty! I absolutely loved your opening two lines. Perfectly describes one of those delicious days that we enjoy.

Have a great day, Jer!

[PrinceMyshkin]

I smiled reading this. It was the kind of poem that gives me a hug unexpectedly. Merçi beaucoup.

Thanks for hugging it back!

[qimissung]

Life on the street...in your world and hands it seems like a busy, happy place.

[PrinceMyshkin]

A sad-faced neighbourhood woman
goes by, today without her large black dog.
“Bonjour,” I say with a smile.
“Bonjour,” she replies, but without a smile.
I remind myself that her son,
or one of her sons, not long ago,
hung himself.

[PrinceMyshkin]

A woman rolls up
in a mammoth, tomato-red
Mustang convertible,
nothing but her head visible
behind the steering wheel,
like a loose piece of popcorn
facing a tsunami

[lugdunum]

A woman rolls up
in a mammoth, tomato-red
Mustang convertible,
nothing but her head visible
behind the steering wheel,
like a loose piece of popcorn
facing a tsunami

very funny! nothing to add... I can totally picture her! Well done

[PrinceMyshkin]

An elderly woman
in a fizzy green coat
hobbles along on a cane
from breath to breath

[qimissung]

I can see her so vividly...

[firefangled]

I like the whole of this and two things in particular that make it richer than what could have been a mere observance. The green coat juxtaposed against the struggle to walk.

And in writing this I see it is even more than I thought. This short little poem is this woman's entire life from green to final breaths.

I applaud your subtlety, Prince.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I like the whole of this and two things in particular that make it richer than what could have been a mere observance. The green coat juxtaposed against the struggle to walk.

And in writing this I see it is even more than I thought. This short little poem is this woman's entire life from green to final breaths.

I applaud your subtlety, Prince.

Thank you. Doing these has been an enjoyable exercise, to do them as much as possible without ego, without flash; to be faithful to the objective exterior of my subjects and hope that those exterior details hint at what may be hidden.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Snapshot: Sept.1, 2009

A man was coming towards me,
about as strange a steed
as I had ever hoped to see:
a tall, rangy dude with a lopey stride,
rawhide Stetson and a strong, square jaw.

There wasn’t a heck of a lot
in his eyes that I could see,
maybe a bit of a wince
as if where he was going
would always be a bit too far away.

[PrinceMyshkin]

A young woman
with a birthmark
on the calf of her right leg
pauses, as if deep in thought,
before entering the café.
When I go in to pay
she’s nowhere to be seen.

[DanielBenoit]

How wonderful that there are 36 pages of snapshots!