Photographing a Ghost
Our daughter angles the camera lens to get the whole
house in the shot. Fourteen years ago,
I took the same photo, ignoring your focus
on the experience rather than the need to record it.
Now you’re unable to watch her look at the photos
her mother took, reach out and trace your face,
her need to feel your absence as a shadow,
watching her take a photo of somewhere you once stood.
(published in The New Writer 2012)
What they didn’t take
They took the white goods, easy to sell,
easy to replace; the PC upgrade afterwards a bonus.
They found my jewellery, but took nothing.
Rifled through, not recognising what they saw.
My jet drop earrings left intact, untouched.
A reminder of our first proper date
where your eyes didn’t stray from the woman
about to spend the rest of your life with you
and when I wear them, I’m not in mourning.
(published in The Journal #38)
Emma Lee’s Yellow Torchlight and the Blues was published by Original Plus and her poems and stories are widely published in magazines, anthologies and online. She reviews for Sphinx, The Journal and also on her blog
andotherpoems.com 