Who is this woman in my mirror,
the one who looks like she's been
worked on by Rembrandt or Dürer?
Why are there mail sacks sagging under
her chin? Wasn't it just yesterday
I was doing my hair on rollers
the size of orange juice cans?
Why is my scalp, pink as an eraser,
showing through? What happened
to my snappy ponytail that switched
and danced when I cheered? I still feel fresh
as the first day of school, new plaid skirt,
box of sharpened crayons, pencils that no one
has written with yet. Why is this young man
from down the street shoveling my driveway?
Doesn't he know my shoulders have lifted
great burdens? Can't he see I've already hefted
huge shovelfuls of sorrows and stars?
Mirror by Barbara Crooker | Pink Peony Poetry Reed Diffuser
Barbara Crooker is author of eleven full-length books of poetry, including Some Glad Morning, Pitt Poetry Series, longlisted for the Julie Suk award from Jacar Press, The Book of Kells, which won the Best Poetry Book of 2019 Award from Poetry by the Sea, and Slow Wreckage (Grayson Books, 2024). Absence is forthcoming in 2027. Her other awards include: Grammy Spoken Word Finalist, the WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, others.
