The Portrait Not Taken

September 23rd, 2025

Campeche, Mexico

12:20 pm

Her older face was broad

& brown

w short graying hair

chopped off in back

in rows close to her head —

She wore a red tee shirt dress

w brocade in black

around her bodice

w a rhinestone enclosure

missing most of its stones —

Her smile was full

as She talked openly

to Eliza, glancing at me:

how dark-haired women

want blond hair

& blonds want dark —

I wanted to photograph

this authentic relic

of a Mexican Woman

but Eliza discouraged me

explaining that it might seem as if

I would be making a spectacle