Exposure
The pops and flashes of brilliance,
instamatic flash bulb explosions
of acrid clarity
make translucent the
opacity
of my reticence.
I open up to the paparazzi of your
insistence
and give you my best side,
baring all,
centerfolded.
I feel free,
knowing the readership of my opus is small,
the article better than the
image.
I become your a, an, and the–
a burning, retinal after-image,
an eye-blink,
the single lens
of my reflection
through which you meter
the light and dark,
the f-stops of hesitation,
the demure and the pornographic
of your still-framed
face.
Hiding out in your dark rooms,
I seldom feel over-exposed.
Born in Birmingham, Chris grew up in Sylacauga, AL. He attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, majoring in Psychology and studied for several semesters in New York City and Thessaloniki, Greece. Following school, Chris worked for Birmingham’s City Stages as the assistant sponsorship director. In 2005 Chris returned to Sylacauga, where he currently lives and works. He is married, the father of two young boys, and is in his second year of mortuary school at Jeff State in Birmingham. His hobbies include writing, reading, collecting fountain pens, studying astrophysics, and watching first and second wave French films. His current interest lies in the impact of the internet on social and cultural evolution, particularly at the neuropsychological level of the individual.
Steel Toe Review 