The Look
by Talria
· 31/01/2026
Published 31/01/2026 20:49
The photograph is from 2016.
You're wearing a shirt
you don't remember owning,
standing in front of
a wall
that could be anywhere,
and your mouth is
doing something
you've spent seven years
trying to forget.
It's not quite a smile.
It's not quite a frown.
It's the expression of someone
who doesn't know
they're being photographed,
who thinks
they're alone,
who thinks
their face
is private.
But it's not.
It's here.
It's evidence.
You were holding it
in your hands,
packing,
moving,
trying to leave
one life
for another,
and you found it,
and you froze,
and you couldn't
look away.
Because this is you.
This is actually you,
when no one's watching,
when you're not
performing,
when you're just
being
whatever this is—
this thing
your mouth
is doing,
this thing
your eyes
are feeling,
this thing
you never
wanted
to see
about yourself.
You want to throw it out.
You want to burn it.
You want to
unsee
it,
to go back
to not knowing
what you look like
when you're alone,
when you're
unguarded,
when you're just
the person
you are
when nobody's
checking.
But you can't.
The photograph is
in your hands.
Your face is
looking back.
And now you know
exactly
what you
don't want
to be,
and you can't
unknown
it,
can't
unsee
it,
can't
un-be
the thing
you're looking at
right now.