Christine Potter

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS


My father was more than a family photographer.
He was way better than snap shots. No one, he said,
should do anything for free. The Christmas picture

of my sister and me decorating an aluminum tree
with Lighted Ice bulbs was taken before Halloween:
front cover for the employee magazine at the firm

where he underwrote insurance, his day job.
I wore ruby lipstick at thirteen to get stuck up
behind the glass counter of a jewelry store,

his freelance account. Vivid makeup, he said.
Shows up better in black and white. Bobby pins
pulling my Twiggy-straight hair back into a bun,

over one of Mom's secretary blouses, for a detective
with a security business. I was a real model,
and too embarrassed to tell my friends. Dad watched

me put on black eyeliner and said, Not enough. He
told me to look afraid. I forget who held the gun
on me. It could have been anyone. Dad got paid.

Christine Potter is still the head moderator at The Gazebo, something she's done for longer than even she believes. Her first collection of poetry, Zero Degrees At First Light, was published by David Robert Books in 2006. She's been fortunate enough to have work in Stirring before, and lately has also contributed poems to The Tipton Poetry Journal and Mimesis. Christine lives in an old house on a creek with her organist/choirmaster of a husband and two spoiled cats.