B39
Collective Memory
Excerpt from poetry collection:Call it Awash: Stories and aphorisms.

rent some beauty

you can afford it now
make it worth your while
get your money’s worth
fill up your camera
with pictures of you
in front of backgrounds resembling
the colors and shapes of
the beauty you saw.

bring your kids:
only half price!
explain the beauty to them
and when they grow up
you can remind them of the beauty they saw

wait in line for your beauty
it's worth whatever price you'll pay,
why else would they charge so much?
follow someone around
and listen to their scripted lists of facts and anecdotes
detailing the empirical beauty and importance
of this significant scenery
heel-toe, heel-toe, thousands of years old
shuffle through
don't jump the queue
wear the right shoes
don't forget your headset
(it's worth the extra)
smile, three two one, smile
crop out the tourists
don't forget to share your shots
otherwise what was it all for?
and if your pictures are good enough,
maybe you'll convince your friends to go, too
(and that's good for all of us).

later your pictures will serve as proof,
with you smiling in the foreground
and the background resembling the beauty
you paid to see.
maybe this will be the beauty
which will bring that great epiphany
you've been searching so long(ingly) for,
and who could put a price on that?

Ruth Crimson-Forde