-


Lines border my eyes like new roads
to more distinguishing characteristics,
signifying for me many a morning frown.

I draw my face closer to the mirror to
examine them in more detail, mapping
pending destinies laid fresh like asphalt.

Traces of purple fans out from the exterior
corners, I think of them as ink spatter that
gets larger every time I endorse

a small check.

I cannot stop the runs but I can
hide the evidence with concealer
creams and foundation,

establishing a façade upon which
the viewer will find as pleasant
from just the right                          
                                       distance.

I stand back just so approximately
from the mirror to admire
an illusion of youth,

and then move forward once more
to fathom the texture
of experience—

"Maybe less this time" I think,
have I not earned the right ?


s jones
2011-2021

.

They said it was an accident
That you had just slipped of the balcony
That you were just peering over the guardrail too far
Then you just slipped
But I knew what happened
I knew what happened the moment I saw you
Your little broken body slid out of the cold locker
Your nose crooked and your eyes puffy
Those once bright sapphire eyes stifly closed
I didn’t cry; I just stood there staring
“That’s her” I had croaked out
Then I walked away
You said you wouldn’t
I told you what would happen
Breathing in cold air I glanced quickly at the traffic below
“See you later alligator”
In a while crocodile