Photography Assignment

Assignment: Write a poem inspired by a photograph.

She Can't See Me

Softly she laughs, lips curled slightly,
Her head tilted to the left and her hair,
An auburn, silken wave, spilling over her face.
Her eyes pierce mine, look into me,
But she can't see me at all.

I watch her every night, here with her friends,
At the Double Feature Drive Inn, and I wish
I could be with them, laughing and free,
Instead of behind this counter where
She can't see me at all.

Oh, that I could tell her how her laugh
Invades my thoughts and dreams, thrilling
Me, wrenching my soul to the core.
But I stand here mute when she is so close.
She can't see me at all.

I wish I could write for her a sonnet describing
How I want to run my hands through her hair,
Over her face, and kiss her velvet lips,
Instead of being Ken the snack bar man
Who she can't see at all.

And so night after night, I am doomed to watch
Her walk away from me, arm in arm with him.
I imagine the sweet nothings they whisper and the
Plans she makes with him instead of me,
The man she can't see at all.