English Studies Forum

Photos By Diane Arbus

Maggie Jaffe

            Few people have the imagination for reality.

If you photographed the real

Diane Arbus, who would we see?

A cranky, crying girl,

always hot & tired.

Which childhood memories obsess you?

Bubba forcing me to eat

until I'm so fat, nobody loves me.

What would your marriage photos divulge?

Allan walking out on me

for a Hollywood actress.

Two terrific kids who scare me.

Both of us making it in high-gloss magazines.

When you're shooting people,

with whom do you feel an affinity?

Normal looking crazy people, 

dwarves & giants, bag ladies,

insomniacs, alkies & junkies.

If you personified?

death, who would s/he be?

Me in the bathtub,

wrists slit, white spit

on blue lips, pink water

& gray tile.  The faucet drips.