Poetry presented at the Double Dialogues Art and Pain Exhibition
	Tsam Choe with village children, Punu Meggna village, Tibet. 2001 by Peter Davies No. 23, Double Dialogues, Gardner Contemporary Art, East Hawthorn

Photograph on the Wall
Kass Harding

photograph on the wall
iron gaze
why aren’t you smiling
do you see me staring back
I can feel your hands
hard strength of sinew and knuckle
passing strength to the family
like the roots in the ground
holding them in your hands
with them every step
strength gentled by love
you are the past
you are the present
you are the grandmother

photograph on the wall
iron gaze
why aren’t you smiling
what does this photo represent
is it you
your children
your present
whose hopes, what view
whose past is hidden within frozen pose
whose needs are seen here
what choice
then or now
would you choose these children
chains of strength or bondage
will they choose you
as they drift away



photograph on the wall
iron gaze
why aren’t you smiling
making my past come alive
do you remember me staring back
with me through every step
you are the past
you are the present
you are my grandmother
holding us in your hands
singing our own songs
it’s taking me back
back into our past
iron gaze cold stare
you are the roots in the ground
the strength of our family
you are the strength that I’ve found
every morning when I wake
the reminder on the wall
the reminder in my heart
my grandmother’s love winding like a thread
the thread of love and blood
would I choose again the pain burrowing through my bones
through my love and thoughts
seeping like the blood throbbing in my head
trickling between my thighs
the cold dead-metal smell
of blood and sweat and saliva
the smell of my groping grandfather
the pain of never knowing
knowing if you knew
the pain of loving you any way




photograph on the wall
iron gaze
why aren’t you smiling
making my past come alive
old pain
fresh pain
threads through life
a full tapestry of threads
or choose a pinch of threads
the pain of knowing
or innocent oblivion
whose journey ends here
my need for you screams through the dark
pushes at the threads of pain
I’ve made my choice
chosen my tapestry
picked the threads
needled the past





photograph on the wall
iron gaze cold stare
you are the roots in the ground
the strength of our family
you are the strength that I’ve found
every morning when I wake
the reminder on the wall
the reminder in my heart
the pilot through my pain
the loveliest and saddest
landscape in the world
etched in blood
wait a little
just under the star
an echo of love
of laughter
my strength
the price of tears