You find the Canon where the sedum creeps
Shutter frozen since the autumn equinox
Leather case rotted where the moisture seeps
Silver halide sleeping in the dark box
Latent image waiting in the gravel bed
Roots embrace the cellulose and gel
Developer brown as river silt and red
Time develops what the light knew well
Aperture ring stiff as winter xylem
Focus scale marked in meters and in feet
Thirty-six exposures of a lost realm
Wind the lever hear the spring retreat
Latent image waiting in the gravel bed
Roots embrace the cellulose and gel
Developer brown as river silt and red
Time develops what the light knew well
You pocket the body like a seed pod found
Walk the driveway where the chicory grows
Purple flowers open on the common ground
Night blooms Jasmine where the cool wind blows
Latent image waiting in the gravel bed
Roots embrace the cellulose and gel
Developer brown as river silt and red
Time develops what the light knew well
Darkroom smells of acetic acid vinegar
Stop bath bites the fingers brown and rough
Fixer clears the ghost to silver character
Hang the strips where dust cannot be enough
Enlarger beam cuts through the amber gloom
Paper drinks the chemistry and blooms
Shadows lift to highlight in the room
Patience rewarded in the developer fumes
Now the contact sheet shows driveway stone
Chicory purple against grey aggregate
Canon lens caught what the night has known
Time suspended in the silver state
Latent image waiting in the gravel bed
Roots embrace the cellulose and gel
Developer brown as river silt and red
Time develops what the light knew well
Now the image rises from the chemical spell
Latent no more — the photograph tells
Fix the image wash the silver clean
Hang it dry where the night air's unseen