Anger Reflects on Her Personal Growth

Poem by Annie P.

Mirror: A surface capable of reflecting light to form an image of an object placed in front of it.

The mirror told me I looked great, even though my hair was wilted and dry, ready to catch,

Something that faithfully reflects or gives a true picture of something else.

and my ribs AS spokes, arms like wicks, waxen skin. I burned for kindling.

(A flat mirror causes distortion,

I listened when the mirror tells us to simmer down, slim down, torch calories, incense prayers to holy bony collarbones, frails wrists, thigh gaps. The mirror never reveals that imitation asphyxiates, consumes, ashes life away.

it produces a virtual or unreal image;

Full enlightenment took years. The process was slow, but gradually, I grew a tiny flame.

these images are unequal to the objects being reflected.)

I started to smolder. I curved out, sputtered desperately for change. But the mirror was smooth, reflecting and deflecting my hot accusations.

Something worthy of imitation.

How to feed the cinnamon flame? I smoked at the mirror and I blinked back, my eyes seemed dead and black and that’s when the gasoline fear finally caught. I unleashed a flaming mane, body blazed a scream. I phoenixed through the mirror,

A mirror’s reflective surface is viewed through a medium;

that tarnished silver, nothing more than a layer of thin

also called a looking

glass.

Originally published at hvngrymag.com on November 19, 2014.