The cruelty of one-way mirrors

by ether   Sep 1, 2016


We had the same hands,
but different lives;
the same smile,
but different lines.

i found you again.
this time, pouring spiels of love
in to any microphone you could find.
the gaps in your teeth
mesmerising the audience.

i stopped listening -
overcome with a feeling that
we've been well-acquainted
in a different space and time.

as you stood down
from another spectated monologue,
your eyes met and deflected mine.
when i saw your iris,
you saw the sky.

with a mumbled apology,
ushered yourself through
the two-dimensional
faceless crowd.

it came as a shock -
but i've seen stranger;
where i read caution,
you saw danger.

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Latest Comments

  • 8 years ago

    by hiraeth

    Judging Comment:

    I'm absolutely entranced by this piece; I've read it numerous times - it's a short narrative but it works really well. The title foreshadows the plot (and I think it's an excellent title at that). This piece was written about someone that the speaker thought was just like them, but came to the sudden realization that they are not alike. Whether or not, the subject of the poem is known to the speaker or not still remains a bit of mystery to me, there are some verses that suggest so, and other verses that suggests otherwise. This little obfuscated detail works really well since it draws in the reader until they come to the ending stanza and is hit with the same realization the speaker was hit with.

  • 8 years ago

    by Em

    I love this.

    it came as a shock -
    but i've seen stranger;
    where i read caution,
    you saw danger.
    ^^
    Powerful!! Em

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