My fifteen-year-old niece wrote this poem and agreed to let me share it with you. I’m proud of her creativity.

Photographs by Margaret Dugan

We hang up happy pictures.

Those are the only ones you see.

All the sad and ugly ones are hidden from you and me.

If you want to find them, dig up the past.

Here’s a list of things to do to help you find them fast.

Lift up the carpet, making sure there is nothing in you view.

Move the floor boards one by one, making sure each nail is removed.

Now you have to dig, deep beneath the earth.

Making tons of piles made from dirt.

All your hard work is coming to an end.

You hold in your hands, a box so dear.

You open it to find nothing in its keep.

Then you realize those photos have been burned years ago because…

We only hang the good ones.