IN THE MIRROR

Back when we were Alices through
the looking glass,
there were people who walked
and talked
funny
like they lived at the deep end of the pool –
always running in slow motion and blowing out hello
in water bubbles

It was the world
down there
where the underground people had a ceiling for a ground
and blood rushing to their heads from being
up
side
down
all – the – time

It was an entire kingdom of royal subjects
where only two could tell story
always the same two – our alter egos whose names
I
no
longer
remember
nor remember creating but Superman had his Bizzaro
so we must have had our so and so’s

It was the universe on the other side of mama’s vanity
where we could jump into or climb down to
(depending on who controlled the game):
the parallel universe full of opposites
that I-made-up-no-you-made-up-no-I-did

When did we come back through that rabbit hole
or close the wardrobe to Narnia?

Those poor mirror people,
the gateway of that simple looking glass –
that portal
that barrier
that window
holds them simply because we forgot to erase them from memory.

(November 2000)