My Camera

Sometimes the moment passes too fast
And sometimes the camera hand isn't quick enough
Or the lighting is poorer than my retinas
Or the angle is wrong to grasp the whole scene
So I wish I had cameras where my eyes are
To capture anything that I can see.

I would have captured the three year olds
Using an old Jeri can for a pinata
Laughing and shrieking through their blindfolds
As their sticks struck earth and plastic by turns
To remind myself to appreciate the little things
And when I can see less, I sometimes enjoy more.

And I would capture all the strange things I see
As I sit astride a boda whizzing through traffic
I would have captured the Popsicle truck bumping up my dusty road
A pied piper with a string of kids in tow
And the horrifying cat mask the operator wore
To remind me that there are more terrifying nightmares
Than the ones I seem to face.

I would capture every look I get from girls
Who think I look good and hate me for it
Then I would paste them all together
And stick them to the wall where my mirror should be
To remind myself that I am beautiful enough to have haters
So I should stop being my own.

Maybe that's why I like words so much
Because an image can fade in the mind
But if I write it down in candid detail
It can never be lost
The poignancy of it still as ripe as it's first sting
So I write, to remind myself of all the things my camera can't capture
And all the lessons they teach my heart.

My words are the camera of my soul.