posing like an undertaker

Larkin gazes into his lens

with a distant look

past the obvious

a self - timed study

in black and white

        a selfie

(he would have hated that word,

too sweet, narcissistic

for such a considered moment).

and we see the puritan look

curiously drawn to death's impediment

side - lit through lace

and sense that poetry lurks close behind.