Halide smiles
sepia-steeped
with rusting remnants
They pose
historical;
documentary.
Proud
Negatives nourished
from the fabric of heritage
Who were those who’s whos
whose gaze we venerate?
Lost skills, lost possessions
filter hints of time - and
Desires of better days
echo forgotten words
behind those halide smiles
Ghosts alive;
as necromancers we cling to you
scouring papers
rogue and vague
of neighbours and trades;
banners that wave
embroidered for parades
their beliefs in our hearts
we need not pray - for
Scrabbled letters
spell spirit dreams
and the wind that whips the curtains
plays behind their crumbling, plaster smiles
***
Notes on Ancestry: Silver Halides are part of the chemical process of photography that is used to create prints from negatives. The dictionaries state that there is no plural of ‘who’. However, in this context there is; “Who is this”, we might ask of every unknown face - while collectively these then are more than one who. I had longer spaces left between certain words to carry the rhythm, however I now deem this to be pretentious and use more regular punctuation.