Without meaning to,
I’ve taken mental snapshots
throughout my life
that never leave me.
Random things like

A boy crossing the street
in front of the house on Poplar Street

My grandfather waiting for me
On the train platform in Ocala

The sapphire blue of
the Mediterranean sea

Sometimes the images
ambush me when I least
expect it, flickering past,
demanding I look,
insisting I remember.

I must make a confession, though.
I have a paper bag in my
dresser drawer that contains
12 rolls of undeveloped 35 mm film,
some more than two decades old.
I have no idea what images they
contain, and no desire to find out.
I can only imagine the sleep I’d lose
if my brain ever got a hold of them.

Art: Street scene in Gloucester, Massachusetts 2015 by Virginia Galfo