Long Stop-Motion Picture

Saturday picture
Of a blond toddler
At a desert creek
In a mild winter.
What happened later?

The child got older.
The parents split up.
Many more pictures
Were taken—a few
Even at that creek.

The creek in summer,
Almost hot, running
Lower, and jam-packed
With jumpy crawdads.
The child catching them.

That’s one for instance.
There are others.
It’s not like the child
Grew up by that creek.
There’s just some pictures.

In each picture’s day
More had happened
Since the last picture.
All the child wondered
Was what happens next.