"The tale of the photograph" 

Poetry in motion

This was taken to day at the zoo and when I downloaded it tonight my chest ached so badly I had to look away for a second. Suddenly I can see the man in this face of a boy and it is such an overwhelming feeling. Days ago I ran across a poem an old friend wrote for her little girl. We lost contact and I have no permission, but it's been running through my head and I just have to post it here.

I find the light so perfect in my room-
my dim sheets yacht-white
the comforter, like nuptial taffeta
pillowed about your brother:
creamy bean baby topped in dipped whipped cream
Just innocent in this light-
I dash for my camera
determined to capture this.
He jumps at every opportunity for beaming
He
makes me scrape for angles makes
me beg for a serious side, a moratorium on
goofy faces... makes him cheese easier, makes him
bask in my irritation like
a pool of mother milk

Then you hear the din:
rush to place your mug in my view
embrace your brother
Madonna like
Eyes darting from eagerness to imposed aloofness
so aware of my lens- aware of yourself in the lens
a scary little model-girl
I fix on you through the lens
zoom in on your practiced features:
pierced by winged giggles caught mid-flight
my heart contracts-
labor pains all over again:
the baby has fled your face
sharp divides echo geological shifts
deep in your DNA.
Catastrophes
new cheek bones hold new freckles
like the still water of a star specked lake
placid potential
brimming, dipping
down below to your word wise mouth
curving towards the corners
of your anxious jewel eyes
You are a girl!
but, as you pose I see the woman
you'll too soon be
embracing your own child
or lover
in mid-afternoon
on sheets dimpled
as I sit somewhere and sift
through boxes of pictures like these
chuckle softly to myself
about your cape clad brother

-AG

Party pooper 

So this is my little bug at his first birthday party this weekend. He was such a sport being passed and lasting all afternoon in the heat and noise. He finally passed out in my cousin's arms and he looked so terribly gorgeous I had just had to post this picture. I'm feeling very melancholy about my boys growing up and terribly thrilled that they are mine for now. Being in love is a miraculous mind blowing thing, but being in love with your children is beyond words and then some.