Woman in the Mirror

Miranda Alvarez

Mirror frameless, with exposed

sharp edges, slices at self esteem

Every feature in clear line of sight

Begs for soft, slow caress

Each one met with a tug

As if removal were that easy

Head tilts side to side

Listening to different whispers

Accept this body as is, dodge the punching

thoughts that believe and strive for perfection

Keep on staring, record everything

the reflection will tell you what to change

Suck in the belly plush from last night’s binge

Pinch the roll on your waist made of pizza

Pull the cheeks between the teeth’s clench

hollow out the excess drooping on the face

Starve the body of breath so the silhouette

won’t match the scale’s bully number

Contort, flatten, flex and maybe

the reflection can obscure the body’s atrophy

The reflection extends a hand

And I must decide what it grips

She might take over again

Sending me off to another binge

But I let the wind, she’s had me holding in

Pour an ocean of breath over her

The mirror fogs and eclipses

My view long enough to look at the time

Again, she almost makes me late

I want to be mad at her, but instead laugh

I forge one upward curve under

The nose she has convinced me to hate

Smiling, I shut off the light, dulling the mirror’s edge