camera shy

back when scanners didn’t even exist

did you even like that anorak?

I start whitening a tooth

immediately embarrassed

by invading your privacy

removing your agency

if we’d known how close you were

to existing only in pixels

would we have spent more time

insisting we capture the perfect photograph

ask you to step left a bit, find a background

fit for an eternal life framed on a wall?

we might have turned your last few months

into a constant, terminal photo shoot

contrast

brightness

I can set your luminance to 100

you’d hate everything about this