.

Ekphrastic

now I am
four years old,

and beside me is
my sister who holds
a long cigar and wears
a coy smile,

and I smile in
an open-
mouthed way, squished
on the same chair
with her,
my idol,

though we both look
small over the massive
office desk.

but my eyes,
my eyes are so
cheerful but
blank and complicit.

this is one
of those pictures for
which I don’t
recall posing;

is my infant’s
brain perceiving
anything at all?

or is it all
just dull
movement I don’t
really commit
to memory?

when have we
aged enough to want
to remember
everything?

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Step Back