Poetry: Espejitos

Excerpt from Glimmerglass Girl

in the night glass is everywhere/making the concrete a river/dusting the filth with nymph sweat/so as to rarify the mist/mirroring dashboard altars/hiding in storefronts/echoing in gutters/glass is dangerous/glass is invisible/glass is dirty/

fluttering amidst the stars/stands the thin black stalk /of a glimmerglass girl/

her maker made her to disappear/dim/fade away/outline/to paraphrase/herself/

catch her — catcher — scoop her up in your hand

grasp the thin chitin / of her butterfly wings/like holding onto the surface of water/between two fingerprints/between your teeth/rub away her scales/with the heat of your skin/

but before you imprint yourself/on the thin of her wings/remember the question/unasked/yes or no?/

burn it into your retinas/tattoo it on your cheeks/tuck it into your manly smile/learn how to ask/so that she can say no/you may be unfamiliar with this answer/no/

but remember the properties of glass/or her ghost may follow you in the mirrors/forever/in store windows/forever/in the glint of your razor blade/no/forever/no/

Originally Published in Glimmerglass Girl, Finishing Line Press 2018