Reflection

GiaB writing prompt #22 intimacy

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

I wake from your embrace
two blooms unfurling at dawn

My likeness is mirrored in your smile
but the reflection across the room beckons me
to the mounted mirror

Untangling my shape from yours
I now stand before it alone

I run my fingers over my reflection
the smudges blurring the definition of my eyes
my breath steams up the glass in panic
at the sight of my unseeing reflection

I peer
into this vignette
a burgeoning self
blossoming alongside you

After lockdown, I find that having given all my attention to my partner and nurturing our relationship, it is with some anxiety I focus on my own process of self-renewal. This poem is inspired by the triangular relationship that emerges when you love someone — your partner being one node, the relationship and yourself, the other two.

Eager to see the take of other poets, the likes of

Imad

Russ W

Carolyn Hastings

among others! Thanks

Victor Sarkin