Fifty-Three Shots Short Of One-Oh-One Poem by Arsene Hodali

today i studied myself,
as best as i could.

i took out my camera
(canon) ,
prepped and
from chest to head
took three front headshots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three left-profile headshots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three right-profile headshots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three back headshots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,

and stepping back
from toes to head
took three front full body shots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three left-profile full body shots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three right-profile full body shots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,
took three back full body shots
(one of me looking up, looking straight, looking down) ,

and concluding it
took pictures of the in-betweens
(the facing ninety degrees right front close-up shots and more) .

it’s more than i care to write about,
but still,
when unloading the pictures onto my computer
i realized in those forty-eight shots
that my work wasn’t done.