Who Took This

The photo landed in the group chat around noon,

someone's candid from the Thursday thing,

and I scrolled past it—twice—like it was a room

I'd never been in, someone else standing

in the background by the coats.

The third time through I stopped.

The shoulders first. The way the throat

had settled. Then the chin, dropped

a little lower than I thought it sat.

I pinched the screen to pull it in.

That gesture. Just that.

Standing in my coat in my kitchen

holding a phone at arm's length

like it owed me something.

Nobody tells you. There's no warning sent,

no formal notice, no slow reckoning

you can plan around. You just keep going

and one day someone's candid puts you in the chat

and you zoom in on your own face, not knowing

at first that the face is that.