(for Dickie and Michael)

One of you credits the Other One
with teaching One how to
to swiftly and skillfully print

black and white photos
in a newspaper darkroom,
though the Other One doesn’t

remember it that way, says
that One was inquisitive,
eager to learn. All I did was

what I was doing,
the Other One says,
and he was watching.

One calls the Other One
a master printer, his
mentor and friend,

while the Other One says
One quickly surpassed
his mentor’s skills.

By then he was his
own artist. Still is,
says the Other One.

He taught me everything
I know about printing,
says One, a highly prized,

world-class photographer.
Forty years on, mentor
and friend grin as they hug

in the city that shaped
them both, gratitude leaking
from the corners of their

soft blue eyes.