Wildline

Dominic Falls

She smiled once that was all it took.
He memorized her like a book.
Each glance, each pause, he marked, he kept,
he dreamed of her while others slept.

She never knew the world he built
a house of hunger, edged with guilt.
He swore she must feel something too…
Love

Photograph

A frame sits still
four people frozen,
grinning into light.
No one sees
the fracture in the father’s smile,
the sister’s arm pulling away.

To visitors,
it looks like joy.
To them,
it was almost
enough.