Self-Portrait by Anne Harding Woodworth

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Self-Portrait
by
Anne Harding Woodworth

At 14, I practiced
being sullen
in a photo booth
under West 33rd Street,
before catching the tube
to Hoboken.

You’d step in,
sit down, pull the curtain,
adjust the pedestal stool,
comb your hair,
center your face
at the →eye level← arrows,
and put your quarters in.

Four photos in a strip
ready in five minutes—
one face, four fledgling looks:
fear, pique, ignorance, smirk.

From The Eyes Have It, (Turning Point, 2018).
Used here with the author’s permission.

Anne Harding Woodworth is the author of six books of poetry and four chapbooks. She sings in The City Choir of Washington which, this summer, is touring England to perform the Fauré Requiem. Anne looks forward to checking out the vibrant English poetry scene while she's there. A co-chair of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Anne lives in Washington, D.C. when she is not at her cabin in Western North Carolina. Learn more about her at www.annehardingwoodworth.com.

Sarah Russell:
Yup. Trying on who I was. Great poem!
Posted 11/10/2018 09:14 AM

Lori Levy:
Great portrayal of what it was like taking pictures in those photo booths!
Posted 11/09/2018 10:13 PM

barbsteff:
Great last two lines!
Posted 11/09/2018 04:41 PM

wordartdjc:
Sweet poem today. Yes, I do remember those booths. I used them to capture a young girl with a smile to send to my Army and Navy cousins and also to my Air Corps lover who I married for a beautiful lifetime.
Posted 11/09/2018 08:32 AM

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