INNOCENCE

think of yourself ... say as ten years old in the classroom ... your hand raised quietly ... devoted to answering the question ... now freeze the picture ... what is it that you see ... pan back widely first ... see the rest of the classroom ... the other students you would remember if recalled ... the friendships the tensions the forcelines running between the cliques ... the sociology of the little society ... now focus back in on your hand ... on your face ... the posture and poise of your body ... now let's say directed to your classmates and not quite to the teacher because somehow through her ... through her to the question ... change the angle ... go in a 360 degree orbit round yourself now as the object ... the object as a statue ... but full of color flesh and life ... you at ten years old ... but not you ... not only because it's a small slice of time but because of the look on your face ... in particular the look in your eye ... this is what I think convinces ... the picture the statue is not quite you ... it misses the context not of the classroom but of the question the answer was made for ... the question completes and makes you ... a picture of what