The Photographer
and
The Migrant Mother
Geoffrey Callard
After picking beets in the Imperial Valley,
the family were traveling
on U.S. Highway 101 towards Watsonville.
I did not ask her name or her history.
I don’t want to leave a mark
on her life – just our shadows
merging for a moment.
She told me her age, that she was 32
She said she could only breathe out
when the family were sleeping,
her ribs rising like a fence line.
Earlier I watched her children
hunting rabbits, scavenging wood scraps
to keep themselves warm.
Her little boy drew me a picture
with charcoaled wood from the fire.
Something shaped like a dog
and then a house with no windows.
Note: Everything in italics is taken from a Wikipedia article about Florene Owens Thompson, the subject of the famous ‘Migrant Mother’ photo taken by Dorothea Lange. Although the photograph became a famous symbol of the Depression era, Florence’s identity was not known for over forty years.
Geoff Callard is a New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based writer. He has had poetry published in over 20 journals across the globe and in a number of anthologies including Planet in Peril, Messages from the Embers and Poetry for the Planet. His chapbook, Other People’s Lives, was released this September through Kelsay Books.