Generalization of the Masses

Behind the Lens

Behind the lens

I glimpse at this life

Within a square.

Peeking with one eye

While covering my face,

I am revealed to a vignette

Of this world

While my identity is concealed.

The world cannot see me behind my camera,

And I cannot see it.

Through my anonymity,

I am released from the grasp of the world’s weight.

With judgments temporarily gone,

I am left to uncover and appreciate the

Good and the miniscule:

The crack in a wooden fence,

The cobwebs on a path light,

The rusty chain links on the side of a dumpster,

The peeling paint on a bench seat,

The back of a sunflower.

Behind this lens

I give the insignificant the attention it craves.

I caress the fuzzed green of a stem, up

Until I reach

Its obvious beauty.

Yet, I view it from a different angle,

My own angle,

Examining the back of each petal,

Giving credit to its creases

As they follow each other up

To the browning tips of

Yellow.

Behind my lens

I am in control.

Focused on views,

Not the words

That reveal our imperfections.

I am in charge

To see

Only what I want to see,

Because life always looks better

In photographs.

                  Jill Jacobs    © 2009

Special Olympian

Loss of Flight