This is a Photograph of Me

It was taken some time ago
At first it seems to be
a smeared print: blurred lines and grey flecks blended with the paper;

then, as you scan it, you can see something in the left-hand corner a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree (balsam or spruce) emerging and, to the right, halfway up what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake, and beyond that, some low hills.

The photograph was taken the day after I drowned. I am in the lake, in the center of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where precisely, or to say how large or how small I am: the effect of water on light is a distortion.

(But if you look long enough eventually you will see me.)

This is a Photograph of Me