this picture, taken without a flash- poetry by John Rodzvilla

this picture, taken without a flash

The instructions said,

“Always use the flash.”

We thought five lights

Would be enough.

You aimed the Polaroid,

Which I gave you as a gift.

And shot.

I stood naked, covering

my face with my hands.

When the picture appeared

I was nowhere to be found.

We wondered if it was

the camera or me.

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John Rodzvilla teaches at Emerson College in Boston. His work has appeared in Harvard Review, gorse, DecomP, Verbatim and Bad Robot Poetry.