Saturday, April 10, 2010

napowrimo #10

The prompt was to write a poem about a celebration.  Well, this turns out not to be a celebration, per se, like a birthday party, but a celebration of a ritual begun before the couple is married and carried on throughout the family's existence.


Our Scary Family Album



Here’s my mother
just graduated, looking
into the lens suspiciously,
her starched nurse’s cap
impossibly perched.

This is my father astride
his Harley, booted right foot
asserted on the dirt road,
goggles posed in his wild hair,
his grin naughty.
A gorgeous man before he had us.

                           Wanda McCollar

5 comments:

  1. Wanda, thanks for the inspiration and reminder about the wealth of prompts in family photos. I have a similar project that's been stalled, this might give it a boost.

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  2. Family photos are priceless!
    Pamela

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  3. that is perfect wanda family photos are such treasures... i had to laugh outloud at yr last line... when i saw my dad's photo i thought the same thing... backwards bliss

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  4. Loved it, Wanda! The last line had the opposite effect, though. For me, it carries a sense of bittersweet foreboding...suggesting that this was an image of your father at his most charming, before trouble in the family years. (?) =)

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  5. Enjoyed your "family portrait"! I was just looking at old photos of my newly wed parents yesterday and thinking what a glamorous couple they were. :)

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