A Different Shot
My chosen text is “In Creve Coeur, Missouri” by Rosanna Warren.

Only in Creve Coeur would an expert photographer firebug snap a shot so eloquent: fireman bent low

over the rag of body held like impossible laundry pulled too soon from the line, too pale, too sodden with smoke to flail

in his huge, dark, crumpled embrace.
He leans to the tiny face. her hair stands out like flame.
She is naked, she has no name.

No longer a baby, almost a child, not yet a ghost, she presses a doll-like fist to his professional chest.

Her head falls back to his hand.
Tell us that she will stand again, quarrel and misbehave.
He is trying to make her breathe Strong man, you know how it’s done, you've done it again and again sucking the spirit back to us from its lair of smoke.

We'll call it a fine surprise
The snapshot won a prize and the fireman saved her that night in Creve Coeur.

9/11, the Columbine Massacre, the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina. All four were terrible and sad events. Yet, the photographs taken of these events are some of the most moving in the world. They may show some of the saddest things one can imagine, but they are still looked at as beautiful. The photographers of these events are said to be masters of their craft, and they receive praise from thousands of people, but what about the family members of those depicted in these pictures. How would you feel if you lost your mother? Even better, how would you feel if someone took a picture of what happened the night you lost her? Photographers are discriminated against because of the controversy their pictures cause. Should they take pictures which cause grief to some, but bring passion to others? I believe that the author is too hard on the photographer in this poem. The photographer is just doing what he or she has a passion for.
The poem “In