Mirror Stages Poem by Salvatore Ala

4
A barber cutting hair in a mirror
Lets the hair fall from scissors
Out of the mirror's frame
Into the river of time.

The seamstress measuring
A length of reflection
Before marking with chalk
The material of the immaterial.

Night traffic in a mirror
Like a city photograph
That melts its neon
Over the raining light.

A mirror that shows flowers.
A door that opens without opening,
And lightning in rain showers
With thunder infolding.

3
The saddest rake in the world,
Raking leaves in a mirror
As though it danced alone.

The most invisible point,
Lovers looking at each other
For the last time in a mirror.

Tables, curtains, paintings
And other unintended interiors
Are parts of the sum of mirrors.


The wind blowing in a mirror
Equals the weight of time
That goes unnoticed.

The coldest mirrors melted,
Drowning the stars
And flooding the earth.

2
The longest rains
Fall in the country of mirrors.

The shortest day was recorded
In the almanac of mirrors.

Time so infinitesimal it is stopped
By a mirror like a hummingbird heart.

Music and mirrors are such intimates
Degas painted a mirror of dance.

1
All the violence and not even a ripple across the surface.

The mirror left an immaculate oval on the wall.

Mirrors and clocks: machines that have agreed not to merge.

Monet's waterlilies-a mirror in water.

Mirrors in mirrors, the music of loss reflected in love.