Shannon K. Winston

Cyanotypes

For Anna Atkins, Botanist and the First Female Photographer

Slippery, wet algae                                                       dangle like pearls

Uprooted                                                                       like unclasped necklaces

from the sea                                                                  white imprints on salt paper.

A slow emerging                                                           of negative & positive        

of absences & presences                                            skeletal forms aglow.

Fucus nodosus,                                                            Furcellaria fastigiata—

strange syllables                                                           surface

on my tongue                                                               brilliant, biting, scaly—

In darkness,                                                                   phosphorescence, too, congeals in

my hands: how they burn with                                   star-like constellations,

ferric ammonium,                                                         and the finest lines.

Some people peer into the sky,                                  I sink down into waves

for the smallest sketches                                             of the infinite.

It all hinges on patience—                                           Let’s peel back the

shadows. Let’s let light through                                  separations of leaf and vein,

Let’s expose the inner workings                                 of bone, body, muscle                                  

of chemistry                                                                  to uncover how little

of ourselves                                                                   we truly know.              

Let’s turn the whole world blue—                              Let it all burst forth

and expose even our breath:                                      swelling, hurried, snagging on

​

small, almost unnoticeable                                         things.