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To The Subject of Every Photo Taken Before 1900

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What dragged the sides of your mouth down-down-down?

Heavy Burdens?

Bad dental work?

Did the papparazzi say “a little less smiley?"

Dark secrets? Rotten plums?

Did you want something from a noncommittal lover?

Was desire suffering? Isn’t it still?

Did you think you’re the doer?

Or were you a backward thinker in a forward thinking world?

Were you alone mixing medications with metaphors

or were you alone with your next thought continued on page 47?

Too many questions right?

What the hell was there to smile about anyways?

The Ballad of Pablos Juan ►

Comments

Ghazala Lari

Wed 2nd Oct 2019 03:56

Thought provoking poem. The point directly made, comparisions reasonable. A piece where we can have our own answers. This is exactly how an intelligent write can wake up the sleeping crowd to a reasoning mode.
Regards,
G.L

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john short

Wed 2nd Oct 2019 01:18

Why did they never smile in old photographs? Or rather, why do they always smile nowadays? We can't delve back into a mentality that we can never know. Just a heap of questions and few answers. A photo hints at much and tells so little. I think this poem captures that. Nice work, do you have Greek ancestry BTW?

John Short

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