Fujifilm X-T2, Landscape, People, Poetry, travel
by Patrick Jennings

Memories Under Glass

Memories Under Glass, BC Ferries, Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, Strait of Georgia Ferry, British Columbia, Canada

I’m gone
And she stayed behind
Or I left her

I’m not sure
Which narrative
I like the least

I carry her still
A memory under glass
Shrouded and unrepentant

A story ended
Without end
And yet untold

But for the voice
In my heart
That won’t let her go

Louise
BC Ferries
Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo
Strait of Georgia
British Columbia, Canada
Pictures from home, 2021
Just to be clear: the photograph is of my sister; the poem is not.
Louise and I travelled together to Victoria where her son has begun attending the University of Victoria.
The poem… Well, when I started editing the photograph so I could share it with Louise, the usual happened. Words and mental images began to take shape in free-association with visual elements of the photograph. Louise herself is not among those elements. There was a poem in there, and it really wanted out.
I resisted a fair bit, let the photo editing sit for several hours before going back to it. But words, they have a mind of their own, and can really be quite insistent. So, now there’s a poem too.