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Maxine lives in Leicester, and has published poems in Envoi, Interpreter’s House, Fin, Tripod and Nottingham Poetry. Her novel Vintage will be published in 2010 by Five Leaves.
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.
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