Poetry Sample

THE THIRD PRIZE PHOTOGRAPH

I would give this First Prize:

the couple at odds, clearly,

while someone at the end of the same bench

looks off toward the river,

a cyclist goes by on the path.

Boxes within boxes,

like an antique camera,

for of course there was also

the photographer, who chose this print

from the contact sheet,

and now there’s a viewer

with her own stories.

It may be that no one

knows quite what is going on,

nor what choices

lead to the moment the lens flies open –

the woman’s dismissing hand,

the man urgently leaning,

an eavesdropper stiffened,

one foot bent sideways,

the cyclist in his own world.

­­ Susan Donnelly

from Transit