mirror mirror, quite contrary

“You use a glass mirror to see your face;
you use works of art to see your soul.”
~George Bernard Shaw

mirror mirror
quite contrary
i want to see
what you see in me

not this refraction/reflection
a distortion of human self-
analysis for the birds
of discontented souls

art heals the fractious
differences- - - deliberately-

there is finality in action
more than words which
cause a pause-

a side- stepping
when soul goes high stepping
in the night-- all pom pom regalia

so close to the surface
of that briny marine life
barnacled for another century
hidden by the resistance

as no mirror tells the complete truth

so we do our art--
an understudied heart
the translation holds up
among the fiercest

wind--tunnels---hot air balloons
below oil burner piped reams
egos scraping along
the sides of the midtown tunnel

dead air scaring the day lights
out of the artist's pen
petal pushing the business envelope

making square deals that amount
to art on the rocks...
'love on the rocks'...
.
neil diamond croons
 "sweet caroline"
as he means it

and "no sugar tonight' has
a greater meaning

when the tears for sisterly fears
needed a poem or a song

she resisted walking to the piano

for fear there would be no music there
no no this night of frightful musing
when wind cold snow and waning moon
helped to relive another tune--

that of ,,,'the minute you walked in the room,'
or 'you're so vain' ,,,,probably...'
...but just a spoonful of sugar
does make the medicine
go down

shall we laugh?
and channel another blues hymn--
a sweet mango concoction
and walt, ..i too sing to myself-
not electric- but unplugged

'desperado'..learned, while leaning
over the veranda- boughanvilla spilling--
on the verge of the joy..,,,.......of spring
being my best friend

kate lamberg (c) '17