the old one blurred the outline of my body, rough
like parchment upon being touched and
cruel. i could almost sense it laughing as i
tried to touch my cheek and feel good about it.
years and years passed by before i realized
i needed a new mirror. it wasn't easy.
the old one grew roots at its feet. it wrapped them
around my body as if it didn’t belong to me;
i belonged to it.
but i grew taller and bigger. my mind,
which was made up of simple junctions had multiplied
into hundreds and hundreds of veins.
the mirror’s mocking whispers didn’t reach
my heart now; they only tickled my ears.
i cut the roots and threw them into the sea
of memories and history before i changed their owner.
the new one reflected my image better
than the surface of a river could ever do.
when i touched it, it felt like silk. it didn’t laugh
as i caressed my face; it was as if we spoke through silence.
the wings i had tried to grow over the years
weren’t painted in ash black and decorated with horns;
instead, they extracted the blue and the brown
and the green and the red of nature. i saw them now.
i could still see the wounds around my wrists,
rewards given to me when i tried to move my hands
too freely. they didn’t look they were bleeding.
no, they were reminders now, healed into scars.
for the first time in front of the mirror, i saw a smile.
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137,903 Literary Works • 672,070 Reviews
This is beautiful.
Hello, Steggy here for a short review!
The imagery between the mirror and the narrator is very nicely done. Also, I feel like the mirror, in a symbolistic way, shows the inner works of a person's mind; possibly the subconscious to how we think we are and how we want to be. I'm sure there are a few people out there that could relate back to this poem and I think that was the purpose of it (unless I'm wrong).
I do like this beginning very much because you don't exactly give off any details as to what you may be talking about and I think that's a great use of inferring and just by looking at the title, I could tell this was talking about the mirror. The one thing I would suggest in this first chunk would be I don't think cruel would be the right word (but if I'm wrong, ignore me). Maybe fragile or broken? Synonyms to possibly cruel?
Bit wordy here but could be straightened out with replacing 'had multiplied' with 'had grown' because the way I'm thinking of a tree growing within this person's mind if that makes sense. Because you do mention roots later in that same stanza so it seems fitting enough.
Overall, this was an interesting poem. I think you portray a nice message towards body image by using a mirror as a sort of our inner mind telling us what we think about ourselves.
If you have any questions, let me know!
Steggy
Hey hey, Ardently here for a review!
This is....powerful. Like wow, I got actual chills reading this. I'm not great at critiquing poetry, but I'll do my best.
Firstly, what I think the meaning of this poem is:
I think, and I could be totally off base here, but I think this poem is about self-image. Starting with self-loathing, but then learning to love yourself. The whole idea of how, if you hear enough bad things about yourself, and think enough self-hating thoughts it begins to consume you and becomes harder to let go. But then how much more wonderful life is when you finally do let go and see yourself through different eyes or, as the case may be, through a different mirror.
Secondly, my actual thoughts on the meaning and how you presented it:
Wow. That's all I can say, is wow. As someone who gained quite a bit of weight and has struggled with her self-image and is going through the process every day of learning to love herself, this poem really resonated with me. Everything you wrote here could be, and in fact kind of is, me. Your word choice is amazing, everything works perfectly together. I'm sure people who know a lot more about poetry than I do will be able to provide you with the proper constructive criticism, but honestly I'm just amazed at how something this short can be so powerful, and paint such a strong picture of one particular struggle. Your last line in particular is so emotional for me, because again this poem really reminds me of my own journey, that I'm still on, and I'm so glad that you ended this optimistically.
~ Ardently <3 ~
Thanks for the review! <3