20 January 2026

Being a Jorge Luís Borges fan and a lover of the only-in-English term Borgesian I constantly experience what Borges often said that every first time is followed by repeated first times.

In my bedroom until today I had 8 framed pictures on the wall that featured my daughters and granddaughters. There were none of Rosemary. In the morning I went to pick up a framed photograph of Rosemary at Magnum Frames on Main and Marine Drive.

I put it on the wall. It is opposite me when I am on my bed. Rosemary stares at me with those sad eyes of hers. I took the photograph in the beginning of 1969. This means that the portrait is from 57 years ago. The print in the frame is not a darkroom print or an inkjet b+w print. It is an inkjet transparency mounted on silver carboard. It resembles a Daguerreotype.

She stares at me, and. I stare back. It seems like she is posing for me in our Calle Herodoto home in Mexico City. Borges was right. She is in my room and the eye contact is startling. It saddens me. But I would rather be sad if that means that she is posing for me for that Borgesian first time.