The Secret in the Mirror by Alberto Ríos
The mirror is dirty from the detritus of dailiness—
I look in the mirror and am freckled.
A week out from being cleaned, maybe two, maybe more,
The Milky Way shows itself in the secret silver,
This star chart in my own bathroom,
Aglow not in darkness but with the lights on,
Everything suddenly so clear.
It is not smear I am looking at, but galaxies.
It is not toothpaste and water spots—
When I look in the mirror, it is writing and numbers,
Musical notes, 1s and 0s, Morse-like codes, runes.
I am looking over into the other side,
And over there, whoever they are, it turns out
They look a lot like me. Like me, but freckled. Art by Katty Huertas
Recommended listening: Slow Waves - Submerse
Skiptracing - Mild High Club
Links of the Day: OCD - Neil Hilborn (Button Poetry magic) The Legend of Fat Mama The Accidental Plagiarist in All of Us
My Interview with Kritika Trehan on Excess, her visually compelling book on body shaming
Crowdsourcing The Beatles: How Ron Howard's New Documentary Unearthed Rare, New Footage