Today, mirror,

there is no frizz in your hair, no sleep in your eyes.

There is no fat rolling over the waist of your jeans.

Your lips are not chapped, your shoulders are not sore.

You wear a different shirt then you did yesterday.

You stand straight, tall, proud,

not me.

 

Today, mirror,

there is no snooze on your alarm, no red pen on your homework.

There is no searching in your bag for an assignment you didn’t do.

Your Powerschool is silent, your afternoons are easy.

The bell is muffled by the classroom door when it rings.

You stand calm, confident, proud,

not me.

 

Today, mirror,

there is no rattling in your keys, no frog in your throat.

There is no awkward shift in the measure you tried to practice.

Your hands are warm, your changes are clean.

The audience is stunned into silence by the time you bow.

You stand fulfilled, thankful, proud,

not me.

 

Today, mirror,

There is no white-out in your brain, no mental revision.

No pinky on the backspace key as you highlight the whole text in blue.

Your designs come to life, your lines win awards.

The scroll bar gets smaller by the minute.

You stand encouraged, creative, proud,

not me.

 

Today, mirror,

there is frizz in my hair and sleep in my eyes.

There is fat rolling over the waist of my jeans.

My lips are chapped and my shoulders are sore.

There is a snooze on my alarm and red pen on my homework.

I search my bag for the math I know I didn’t do.

My Powerschool lights up my phone. 

Today, mirror,

there is rattling in my keys and a frog in my throat.

There is an awkward shift in the measure I didn’t practice.

My hands are cold and my changes bleed over.

There is white-out spilling in my brain. 

 

Today, mirror, you are not me.

You are everybody I see during the day.

You are who I want to be, but that won’t happen

today, mirror, because we both know

that neither of us either have ever changed,

and it seems like hope should not change either,

at least not for today, mirror, 

but I am different and that means 

while I am not perfect like you are today, mirror, 

it means that I can still change,

and who I am today, mirror,

does not have to be me. 

 

Maybe tomorrow, mirror,

there will not be frizz in my hair or sleep in my eyes.

There will not be fat rolling over the waist of my jeans. 

There will not be red pen on my homework. 

I’ll hand him the assignment as he walks by. 

Maybe tomorrow, mirror,

There will be no frog in my throat or rattling in my keys. 

There will not be whiteout in my mind. 

There will not be an awkward shift where I didn’t practice.

My audience will be silenced with my power. 

 

Maybe tomorrow, mirror,

I will stand straight, calm, fulfilled, creative,

and I will stand proud. 

 

Maybe tomorrow, mirror,

You will be me.