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This Is a Photograph of Me

 

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks
blended with the paper;

 

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

 

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

 

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

 

I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

 

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion

 

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)

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~ Margaret Atwood

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