The Last Picture

the last picture

    for Ray Andazola’s Year

after the picnic

comes the annual picture

this year it’s Dan Fox

standing on a yellow box

before it was Art Morris

high up on a ladder

telling us to get  closer together

we move in toward the center

but there’s always room for one more

someone says cheese or whiskey

so we laugh and it’s a good picture

like last year’s

and the one taken twenty years ago

but they all have layers

that shadow   I’d swear it looks like  . .

but he’s gone   someone new . . .

it only took a moment

to take the picture

one moment out of a busy day

but we have plenty more moments

and always room for one more

by Lorine Parks