Wednesday, April 24, 2019

WILLIAM CORBETT ~








Mirror, Mirror





As I wipe dust

from the old mirror

my face looks out

red from the sun,

unshaven, tiny river

systems of burst

blood vessels, skin tag

under one eye,

same old friendly moles,

nose hairs—how they

grow!—flesh crease

where chins divide.

I'm a round faced,

heavy faced, middle

age man with a hand's

span of forehead topping

a big head. Size 7 1/2

for hats. "Master dome,"

says Arden who has one

of her own. The little Billy

I was, unmarked, cute

enough to eat with a spoon,

gone with so much else

to the mirror's other side.

God bless him.



______________________

William Corbett
Boston Vermont
Zoland Books, 1999






William Corbett, 1975
photograph by Jonathan Williams