Four Pictures

 

Shortly following birth 

To age ten or eleven 

His father behind the camera 

Domestic scenes 

In the kitchen of the blue bungalow

On the couch, faded velvet

In wraparound shades, cradling an oversized empty

The height of comedy

 

Age twelve to fifteen 

Gawky 

In jeans and a t-shirt in the 104° summer

What could be Belgium or France 

Background a Zoetrope of various pastoral scenes 

Intercut with ancient cities 

 

Age sixteen to twenty-three

There is a blank spot here 

An interlude of several years

From which we have only one photo

Taken by an unknown acquaintance 

With one of those briefly trendy revivalist Polaroids

He stands eyes to some unseen horizon

Cigarette held just outside the frame

Not yet the inheritor of broad shoulders

A city which could be Toronto or New York 

Absent defining landmarks 

 

Age twenty-four to present 

Re-emerged in galleries 

Behind the lens mostly

Fit and cleaner cut 

Passionate 

Haunted

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Ben Horrobin was born at the tender age of zero in Vancouver, BC. He can be found on Instagram @kudzureclaimsthesouth.