Snap

I disappeared once in a mirror
its oval mouth swallowed me whole
no reflection escaped its icy maw

I stood not far not close but
the smooth edge of its body
so tempted my eye I rode
the clock-like rim picked
up speed winding the minute
then the hour until
the coils in my mind
squeezed the day tight
I held my breath and when
time did not fling free
nor snap back I sighed
and let my gaze fall
to the center of the glass

I stood not far not close
rather to one side ever
a polite child
no you first
please no
after you
I insist
and as light
rebounded

snap

Snap

my minute
world uncoiled
sprang full-blown
inside the oval sphere
saturated the void
with shelves of pottery
pots and vessels
spinning in place
too fast for the eye
to see

I stood not close but at a slant
to watch my mother’s fingers
pierce the mirror’s edge
lightly stroke a clay bowl
huge her hand blotted
out the far recesses
of the refracted room
within the room

I watch her there
not close not far
now as well as then
inside the mirror
where once I disappeared
afraid she will find
where I am hiding.