Mirrors

A poem written on the airplane back home from Florida, about my experiences with eating disorders & mirrors, both with myself and those I care for.

Mirrors

 

I never too much liked mirrors.

As a little girl, I barely knew my face.

 

            Oh, I knew the way one learned such.

            I just constituted it unimportant.

 

Not to label myself unshallow!

I contributed to her anorexia as much as anyone.

 

            But my own face, own body found no comfort,

            Nor pain, in reflections.

 

Of course, later, adolescence  with strike you down,

But the scale then found solace in my feet before the mirror my face.

 

            I, quite naturally, found my home in the joys

            Of starvation, and self-annihilation.

 

One line low at twenty-nine reminds me of my love/hate phase

With the bodies of other women.

 

            I earned my wings.

I flew the casket over the bridge of the Antarctic.

 

So close to death I could have come

Until my shawl unwrapped unnoticed. 

 

            Or learned.

            I kept my secrets under lock and key,

 

But he came home and opened my chest,

Let them flap in the exhilarated clouds.

 

            Body dysmorphia is an odd word to name anorexia.

            Don’t you think?

 

But I was no clinical case of either, and it was shockingly easy

To put blood back into my body.

 

            Not.

            Oh, I suppose mine is a generic tale,

 

But I never too much liked mirrors.

Author's Note

Too....technical??

Reviews

[Orlando Murcia]

Technical, but with a lot
of extremely creative words
I liked this piece a lot

Nice work!

Orlando M

[Eagle Cruagh]

Noooo !
Too sad.
I sincerely hope you, or whoever you are
writing about, are fully recovered and now
like to examine yourself in the mirror.

Mirrors can be fascinating objects. My first poem,
like many teenagers, was about stepping through the
mirror into a reverse universe.

I love your poem, it is well constructed, flowing and
an interesting subject. The character is well formed
and the talent of the writer is well documented.

My rating------100 %

-----Eagle Cruagh

[Kenny L. Mitchell]

No...just write. The words are amazing! Not only that...I've NEVER seen the words in such elegant form and functon. Hmm...I may have to check out some more of your stuff. But I DO like this! Good work!