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Maxine is a poet and novelist, with poems published in several magazines. Her novel Vintage was published in 2010, and Closer came out in 2011. Breaking the rules will be published by A&C Black in 2012. She is a writing mentor.
One Sunday she woke up late
got out of bed
glanced in the mirror
instead of the usual faint
sense of disappointment
she saw
nothing.
She touched her face
to see if it was still there
mouth nose hair eyes
looked from odd angles
to catch the mirror
unaware
but nothing
gazed back.
Who was she
without seeing each morning
who she’d been
and who she’d be
and who she wasn’t?
She pressed her face
close to where her reflection
would have been
then she smiled
dragged her lower eyelids down
stuck out her tongue
thumbed her nose
skipped down the stairs
danced into the garden
stark naked for joy.
“There she goes”
said Susan next door.
“Would you look at her out there?
Can’t she see herself?”
Poem published: Nottingham Poetry.
Copyright© of all poems featured on this site remains with the poet
