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poetry

'HIDDEN'
By Maegan Farrow

Concealed in a rose bush,

I admire the flowers

Content in this solitude,

I sit here for hours

Then you approach and thrust your hand in

The thorns grow fangs and drink at your skin

And I am left wondering,

whenever I see a rose Is it painted red by your blood that once flowed?

 

Disguised in a mask,

I'm freed from myself

Drunk on the smile of somebody else

But you stride in and tear my mask away

Revealing skin of paper and my eyes of clay

And I am left gasping for someplace to hide

While you stand and demand to know why I lied

 

Shrouded in a cloud made of my own thoughts

Their buzzing and bother, I have never fought

Suddenly you appear and laugh in my face

Tell me that all of my fears are misplaced

But I am left back at the start line again

Searching for a way to make the noise end

 

Silent and nameless, I watch from afar

Between us the distance of the earth to the stars

Across the street I watch you walk

Someone beside you, I watch you talk

Still I am left thinking if I could ever be

As bright and as beautiful as you are to me

Illustration by Isabel Mitchelson

My own work is self-labelled as documentary photography, out of a lack of a better title. By carrying a camera daily, I aim to embody the spirit of the Brownie in making the means to photography ready to me at every moment, without obstruction – by doing so, I can take a photograph of anything that captures my eye and interests me enough to preserve. Any of us can do this these days, with a camera readily available in our pockets around the clock – and many of us do so without even thinking about it. Next time you take your phone out to take a photograph, whether it is of your friends or of something that caught your eye, think about how you are participating in the act of documenting your life through photography. Make prints of your favourites, display them on your walls, share them with your friends and family. Follow the tradition of those who came before you and took their own snapshots documenting their lives. Everyone is a documentary photographer today, and this is a good thing.

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