My mother says she no longer sees
me in my daughter
and I can sort of see what she means
some features that once resembled
me at that age
have been obscured by
features of my father or brothers
or grandmother
or aunts or uncles or cousins
and of course my mother herself
my daughter stares
back at the reflection of herself
in the corner of the screen
as she waves kisses
goodbye at the end of a facetime
sometimes I catch a screenshot
of them making
the same pose at the same time
later I’ll take a video just
to remember
what she was like at this time
and wonder what she’ll think
of herself back then
when she grows up and groans
at watching the family videos
which I’m sure
I’ll insist on from time to time
already she sees herself waving
in the screensaver
at herself she recognizes
all the faces she has been
as if everyone
who once lived that she might live
are still living
Joshua Keiter 