Poem of the Day #20

Kodak Kitchen

George Eastman's organist plays precisely at 7:30 am
as he descends his grand staircase fully suited
to eat breakfast by himself
in his mansion.

As a young man, he spent three years
in his mother's kitchen
experimenting with gelatin emulsions.

Now his house secretary
uses double-ledger accounting
at his insistence
and he audits her once a year.
His staff of forty anticipates his every whim.

Snapshot is an old hunting term
for "no aim."
Kodak cameras had a shutter
but no viewfinder.


After his suicide,
visitors photograph his estate
on self-guided tours:
their kitchens full of empty jars;
their cameras, phones with no viewfinders.



Inspired by the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.