10 Photos I Want to Take

Number 1 

sunset from the top of a mountain

 an actual, physical one that I physically climbed
 hoping that a midnight defeat
 of nature's beastly height
 will mean I bested
 my mind's beastly depths 
but if there are two things I don't do
they are cold, and exercise

Number 2

snow

sitting out, waiting, for that perfect

flake to fall in a field

brightly lit - one set of footprints

not pictured: thermal EVERYthing,

a friend keeping the car warm and running,

the whisky to keep me going

shot after shot after cold shot

if there are two things I don't do

they are cold, and exercise

Number 3

mist

the kind that fills a city 

too early in the morning to be pollution

that fills the screen of every

Bogart or Gable movie

the kind that fills you with equal parts

despair and hope

Number 4

a coin falling into a fountain

but not the person throwing it.

a person would give the shot too much hope.

that coin is going to sit,

rusting ad ndecaying

while the thrower leaves

with hope still pressed into their hand.

Number 5

cookies in an oven

if there is one thing I do do

it's make the best chocolate chip cookies this side of the planet

watching the dough that makes it into the oven,

rise and fluff while the chocolate melts

trying to keep off the camera

the flour my hands are caked in

Number 6

Moai from the sea

the water reflecting the low, shimmering light

Giant stone heads 

in the background, imposing

frightening to any evil minded Romeo

set on conquering the land

of these maybe gods

Number 7

farm animals

the life and job source of millions

of people across our little globe

posed in the frazzled, messy way

we arrange our own wild young

in itchy sweaters for annual postal greetings.

Animals are usually better behaved.

Number 8

inside of a computer

a desktop.

not a cool gaming one, either.

The old, tired, dusty kind

with too much empty space 

for the dust to gather, choking out the fan,

over heating the grind and fear

of normal, every day use

to a sputtering, anxious smokey 

collapse

Number 9

a wedding

Mawage, that bwessed awangement,
that dweam within a click
the shutter sounds, the happy,
the DRAma, and a hopefully unwrecked cake
all the moments and the feelings
without a single cameo
from the actors

Number 10

penguins

but not in a zoo.
cause enclosures are fancy words for
over populated prisons
and forced removal
and stench
if there are two things I will do
for the cutest cuddliest, most adowable
penguinos ever ever ever
to have their habitat
they are cold, and exercise.