Dream Poem 24: Shadow Me


The quivering woman in the depths of despair
The camel coloured hare springing gracefully through the field
“That’s mine”, I said on a factory production line 
A sealed pack of white gleaming lard from Italy, with herbs on top and the thinnest streak of ham running through it.
The thought of going on without him mad my heart wring with grief.
Who are you?
My mirror me.
All the emotions and stories are inside out and back to front.
The opposite of what’s going on, on this side of the mirror.
Don’t worry about us, we’ve seen you before.
You are all soft and gentle
But we are hard like a lemon grater
You don’t know how to speak for the fear in your mouth
We speak freely and as rudely as we like – who cares?
You smooth over and placate,
We throw fire bombs of disaster among polite conversation.
You’re a milk pudding,
We distain like lemon juice.
We curdle
And part the liquid.
We are the mirror you and do everything opposite to what you would do or say
We enjoy inflicting emotional pain and hurt
We exult in it
We love disappointment and horror and dis-ease.
We love the dark and fear and dangerous situations and
You do not.
We laugh when you should be silent
And provoke the hurt
And prod the sensitive.
We are mischief and mayhem
We love ruining your life and relationships.
Sardonic – yes
Pain giver- yes
Unjustifiable cruelty – yes
And it’s you too.


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