Looking at Pictures from Past Vacations,
I Try to Remember Why I took Them

This first one
I took out of the window
of my hotel room.
Coming from the dense forests
of the northeast, it was a thrill
to see the land rushing away
into the arms of the vast mountains
crouching at the horizon’s edge.

I took this one of my friends
eating lunch at a picnic table
(inside a mall!)
from the floor above them.
It felt like spying,
but for once I caught them
before they had a chance
to pose or posture.
I caught them the way I knew them.

I took this picture, and that one,
and those two over there,
because I felt like I had to.
The grandeur of the scene
compelled me, and besides
all the other tourists were doing it.

I seem to recall
that I took this one
because of the way the light
fell across her face
at that moment,
and this one because I thought
the sign was amusing:
“Guests must shower
before entering pool”.

This last photo, however,
confuses me no end.
Why did I take a picture
of a street, at nighttime?
The light from the flash
reveals seven street signs
and one tree.
The rest is darkness
save for the glowing disc
that hovers, partly hidden.
Ah, I remember now
how the night was rather cold,
how we had walked halfway
across the city for dinner
and were chiefly concerned
with making it back to the hotel.
As we crossed a quiet residential street
I looked up and saw the sky,
clear, the shine of the stars
muffled by the moon’s radiance,
and was awestruck.

Had this moment occurred
a few centuries ago,
I might have fallen on my knees
right there, and recited a poem
in praise of the night’s beauty,
but instead I fumbled for my camera
and took one hasty shot.
Then I hurried on,
straggler in a long line of people
interested in nothing more
than the joys of a hot shower
and a soft bed,
the moon gently lighting our way.

i wrote this for part of my creative mind final project, based on oh-so-lovely pictures of the beloved southwest trip, which were not the pictures i asked my mom to Fedex me, but apparently when some people hear "stack of polaroids in my room" they turn it into "four kodak envelopes in the den".