Polaroid

 

there we are — lost

in a thicket of murky lines,

faces swallowed by lack

of light.

 

she waves the picture impatiently

coaxing us into view.

I think I have questions

about polaroids,

 

like why do we romanticise

our parents’ relics

and who knows to pull us

from that milky dark?

 

the last summer of my saviourhood

she leapt from the dock at low tide,

water closing over her

like it might never give her back.

 

after her other friends deserted her

she bought the camera

to salvage us.

the first shot developed slowly,

 

our figures fading

into sight.

there we are! she yelled

like we were terra nova.

 

the second was blurry,

our bodies smudged

and slightly ghoulish.

she tore it in two

 

and gave me her half.

keep it, she said,

we’ll be each other’s

ghosts.

 

Anuja Mitra

 

 

Anuja Mitra lives in Auckland where she is finishing a Law/Arts degree. She is co-founder of the online arts magazine Oscen at oscen.co, and more of her writing can be found in Signals, Starling, Sweet Mammalian, Mayhem, The Three Lamps and Poetry NZ.