Before the Camera

My legs tremble –
you want to capture
my most beautiful picture
  
Your insistence
unleashes the ugliness, long hidden
firmly fixed
on the dry leaves of a pine tree
my feet stagger now
 
Wearing a solemn mask
more cunning than the mirror
the tattered eye of the camera
mocks the pupil of our eyes
there is a loafer inside the camera
enjoying our ugliness
 
Scared and stunned by intimacy
we look at our own photographs, in every detail
in a brief respite from constantly looking at ourselves
we see the unprinted  hour glasses
on the faces in the pictures
 
I'll look at this picture as desperately
as one looks at exam results
 
And see! There is a lot missing.   
It hasn’t captured my trembling legs!

BEFORE THE CAMERA