On Seeing a Photograph of My Mother at St. Joseph Residential School for Girls

A black and white picture

 

The sun is shining through a window behind you

 

Your hair black short Your small brown hands folded neatly on a tiny wooden desk

 

Some of the girls in the picture are smiling You are not Your eyes staring into the camera Seem a million miles away

 

That stare I will see seldom and one day understand that storms begin millions of miles away

Bibliographical info

David Groulx, “On Seeing a Photograph of My Mother at St. Joseph Residential School for Girls” from Wabigoon River Poems. Copyright © 2015 by David Groulx. Reprinted by permission of Kegedonce Press.

Source: Wabigoon River Poems (Kegedonce Press, 2015)

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