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Midge & Budge 1948 (two photographs)

By E. O'Riley

She stands proud, a fist on her hip,

lanky limbs and rosy lush lips.

Leather chaps drape down her lean legs

stiffly, as if moulded copper.

A rifle rests on her shoulder.

Sunshine lifts the brim of her hat

and rests like a lover’s hand

upon her cheek—plumped up by youth

and fiery adoration.

He stands like a nervous child,

timid, tips of his toes, exposed

the soles of his feet facing up.

Chaps dangle like a bell, his legs

becoming its muted clapper.

A sly smile punctuated

by parenthesis, cast in shade.

Beached wood arms, his thick-fingered hands

gently hold a small flowered glass.

Newlyweds in their wedded bliss

take photographs of each other—

short shadowed by the desert sun.

Each taking a turn to capture

light reflected from the other—

causing miniscule grains to spill

into chemical suspension

absorbing, for me, their rapture.