There's a certain brightness about this image.
It's levels are perfect; it's curves are seductive.

The exposure, the one thing the camera has complete control over,
is the work of a master.

Yet the vibrance is horrible.
It's color balance is leaning towards red,
it's green channel is completely missing,
and the blue...black.

It abuses the threshold of beauty.

I've tried variations of the theme,
matching the color,
replacing the color,

and yet this image,
that looks so perfect in the dialog boxes,
is brutally ruined
by the mis-mixed blacks and blues.

Life should have a reset button.
One where, after I say something like,
"Oh no sweetie you don't look a day over 39"
could be pushed to erase, purge, these words
from the history of conversations between
my wife and I.

It could be useful to everyone:
the student who failed a test,
the teacher who stayed up watching Survivor instead of grading papers,
the plumber who flushed the toilet too soon,
and the artist whose portrait is perfect, except for the crossed eyes.

Why is it that the more we live,
the more and more we see the need
for something as simple,
yet divinely inspired,
as reset and purge?

I've spent years reading books,
turning the pages for other lives
like a butler, or a slave.

Learning only those things that others taught;
thinking for myself others' thoughts.

How wonderful it is
to have a son!

Freed from high educations constant ringing,
freed from the stress of writing essays,
I learn, I think, I write my own thoughts!

Everything up until now,
my life before my child,
was wasted thinking others
could teach me how to read, think,
live,

and now I know the secret;
you can not cuddle, snuggle, embrace
books.