Everyone has a portrait they keep not because of the contents of the picture but because of the unseen. They remember things that happened just outside the bonds of the photo. They remember that it took a month to get everyone there on the same date at the same time. They remember that the baby was sick with the flu and ended up passing it to everyone that was there that day. Or they remember the way it felt to be squished closer than was comfortable. We have the photos not for what is seen, but for the unseen that we remember every time we look at this world.
The family portrait never sits quite right
the way they think it will
with puzzled faces looking back
bewildered in the still.
Their airbrushed pretty faces
hide the secrets that I hold
Glossing over everything
the unspoken remains untold.