Class Picture

We filed into the library,
from tallest to shortest.
Emmanuel sorted us
into three rows
reminding us to
pull up our socks,
tuck in our shirts,
roll down our pants,
and sit up straight...
So we did.
Then he told us to say
"Hockey"
And we did.
He then captured
our image
in the confines of
his camera.
Forever to be
the focus
of conversations
from the past.
"Remember her?"
"Remember him?"
"Whatever happened to...?"
To sit on
coffee tables,
in photo albums,
in the laps of
the next generation,
as they look
with astonishment
at our childhood.
Class pictures.
Annual snapshots
marking our pathways
through time.
"Say Cheese!"

Sally