<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">Photography Lesson, Pt. Reyes</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">My father teaches me landscape</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">here, where the land itself can not decide</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">to which age it raises its stiff thumb.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">I have a decision to make--</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">a few names to throw in the ocean.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">We walk up the bare beach--</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">We look through a machine--</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">He says <i class="">don’t forget<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class="">you are looking through a machine.<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class="">Your emotions will ruin it.<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">The hills beyond are almost bald--</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">a lone raven marks in an arc their curve</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">then lands still in a nest of waves.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class="">Ravens, </i>he says, <i class="">will never appear in pairs.<o:p class=""></o:p></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">I push the shutter down</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">let the machine realize</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">what I have learned,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">as something scares the bird to flight.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><i class="">Why must stories overlap? </i>I ask</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">but my father is already walking,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">the machine ticking faster</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="">than waves can count.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Iris Jamahl Dunkle</div></div></div></div></body></html>