after Alfred Stieglitz

Dandies flip off
their dandruff.
Alfred is bored
in first class.
He walks
to the rail.
In steerage
it rains silvery
soot. No one
looks up.
Their hands
are in snapshots
of lost conversation.
One straw hat tips
and shines like a light,
shows down into
absolute bottom,
a white-x
acknowledges darkness.
Stern women in tallits
offer up prayers.

~ ~ ~

Dale Patterson is a visual artist and poet living in Indiana. He has an MA in Art Education from Indiana University and a thirty-nine year teaching career. Some of Dale’s recent publications include: cur.ren.cy, Misty Mountain, Thunderclap, Right Hand Pointing, Iodine and Main Street Rag. You can see more of Dale’s work at http://dalepattersonart.com/