"fearing her own reflection"

SHE: Poem 6 – “she fears her reflection” (circa ’85)

she freezes

‘fore the bathroom mirror,

neon shadows tracing every edge,

like a scratched VHS

looping her face,

and she doesn’t press play.

she taps the glass

in jittery bursts,

as if her reflection is

some wild graffitied wall

she can’t decode—totally mystified,

and asking why the image

stares back so hard.

she once rocked

neon lipstick like armour,

now she peeks through slitted lids,

heart thumping

like a boombox on max,

dreading the girl she almost knows.

i watch in puzzled awe,

wondering which side is

the real deal— the gutsy skater

lighting up arcades,

or the girl who flinches

at her own glow?

.