Where did my father find this photograph?
Where is the spite, the narrowed eyes?
She was so beautiful in black and white
Anywhere else, would I recognize that smile

Is it like mine?

Was this before she died from making the best of it?
Prehistory in tacked-up polaroid
Proof of a life nothing survived
Anger like amber, where they're fossilized
Maybe I like the way it dulls the light

Anaesthetized

Were we ever alive?

It's so cold inside the surgeon's house tonight