Mirror mazes

Mirror mazes

Squeezed out emotions
Blot paper as words
Each a new squiggle
In this indecipherable map
Called life

And we twist into pretzels
Trying to understand
These markings
Of our own making
Assigning meaning
To hieroglyphics
Forgetting their origin

Turn away, inward
Away from the
Psychedelic colors
Projections of a mad mind

Turn inward to that source
That illumines the glass
Of this mind
Turning it into a mirror
And know peace

—shubha

Mirrored selves

Mirrored selves

Have you ever seen yourself
In the fitting room mirrors, reflected by the hundreds?
Looked into the eyes of your multitude selves?

Sometimes admiring
Sometimes critical
Sometimes encouraging
Sometimes aloof
Sometimes engaged, enthusiastic
Sometimes bored
Sometimes simply staring
With compounded curiosity

Did you leave them behind there
Or do you tote them with you, now
The price tag of a new dress?

--shubha