Liz Palmer-Smith
On Reflection
I want to be able to step through
This speckled mirror.
Bone white fingers grip the frame
On this side, time of eternal curfew.
The need to escape is great. I am at war
With the world and myself, both, one, and the same.
This side is flawed, warped wrong
My bone fingers are trying to strip the irregular flesh,
My face gapes, sallow with sorrow, bored.
I notice each finger is tipped, chipped, long.
Half a face pressed on the glass, no longer fresh,
Skin old, cold, flawed.
This mirror now mists, reassurance of life in death,
Clawing the glass, I an sure it holds me
Loverly, lovely, as I once was,
Offering my image at its best,
I saw it swallowed, transported to the other country,
It has become my only cause.
Do you not notice that everything is wrong?
Incorrectly placed here, superimposed,
I am the wrong way around.
This is not my place, I do not belong,
Unless I can get through, back, I will be rubbish disposed,
Placed in a wooden recycler, worn food underground,
Downed, drowned in mud, cocooned from sound,
Forever earthbound, bound.
Page(s) 122
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