Fears and Mirrors

At night,
   the mirror reflects
                       fear,
                       forges images of a more frightening version of
                                    myself.  My
                                           eyes are wide and shadowy, large,
                                                 set against gaunt and grayish face.
                                                     Horror creeps ever nearer until I'm forced
                                                      to look away.

A simple call from nature,
                         once the lights are out, and I am
                                                  again, eleven,
padding down a (suddenly) long,
                                       long hallway, heart
palpitating,
palms sweating,
gust of
ghosts behind me, hot
upon my neck.

The bathroom bestows
      no comfort.
To
turn on the
light or not?

Avoid the mirror- but I
can
   not.

Brief glance...
            and there I am - (she is) in all her gore, garments dripping guilty garnet
                        red.

I see her without really seeing her-
imagine, only, vision.

Hurry, then, back to bed.
Slow
my breath,
close my eyes,
wait for sleep to rescue,
pray for dreamless rest.

Damn you, slumber parties of my youth and your Bloody Mary stories.

Poetry Jam

Light Words
         

Sickness Seeps

The sickness seeps; a contagion,
frantic, searching for invasion,
seeking host to infect with lies.
Poor victim's sanity, the prize,
every answer an evasion

until truth becomes an abrasion,
invention the new equation
for narcissus' sly disguise
and sickness seeps

with words employed in persuasion
till loss of self, mere sensation
and in denial the soul dies.
The poison pleased with the demise
moves on, searching next occasion
and sickness seeps.

dverse