Photographs
Everyone is smiling.
At least, they would be
if each and everyone of them
possessed a smile
in their repertoire of expressions.
But the older ones,
those preserved in fading
black and white,
were dour in the moment
their picture was taken.
Who knows?
Maybe dourness is happiness
where they come from.
They didn’t starve.
They had a roof over their head.
They survived.
The joy must be in there somewhere.
Just not around the mouth.
About the Author: John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, City Brink and Tenth Muse. Latest books, “Subject Matters”,” Between Two Fires” and “Covert” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Paterson Literary Review, Amazing Stories and Cantos.
Image Credit: Unknown Artist “Family Portrait” Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program.
As It Ought To Be 