Mirror,
Mirror
by Lesléa Newman
Mirror,
mirror, on the wall
I look to
you to speak the truth:
Who’s the fairest of them all?
Who’s the fairest of them all?
My dance
card full at every ball
I sparkled
like a jewel with youth,
Mirror,
mirror on the wall.
I once
inspired men to brawl,
my brand
new beauty sleek and smooth
I was the
fairest of them all.
But now
old age has come to call
and I’ve
grown longer in the tooth,
Mirror,
mirror on the wall.
I spent a
fortune at the mall
and hours
in a make up booth,
Am I the
fairest of them all?
Shrouded
in a wrinkled pall
I beg you
not to be uncouth:
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Say I’m
the fairest of them all.
* * * * *
“Mirror, Mirror”
copyright ©2018 Lesléa Newman from Lovely (Headmistress Press,
Sequim, WA).
Lesléa Newman is a poet, fiction writer,
essayist, children’s book writer and anthologist whose 70 books include the
poetry collections, Still Life with Buddy, Nobody’s Mother, Signs
of Love, and October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard (novel-in-verse)
which received a Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association. Ms.
Newman’s literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment
for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation; the Burning Bush Poetry
Prize; and second place runner-up in the Solstice Literary Journal poetry
competition. From 2008-2010 she served as the poet laureate of Northampton,
Massachusetts. Currently she is a faculty member of Spalding University’s
low-residency MFA in Writing program. A recent poetry collection, I
Carry My Mother, received the 2016 Golden Crown Literary Society Poetry
Award and was named a “Must-Read” title by the Massachusetts Center for the
Book. Her latest book is Lovely (Headmistress Press, Sequim, WA).
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