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Get A New Mirror

Get a New Mirror

A poem by L. Ward Abel

That's what I need to do. The old one
has double vision, confuses me. I'm not
just running my mouth, either. The reflection
has a duality, and it's been this way
for years.
Years.

How can two be one in the same body?
Not to be macabre, not to summon images
of Legion on the shores of Galilee,
but while walking this land
a sense of shame overcomes me, shame of
those
that I am. My desire

is for both of us to meet in a chosen quiet place,
to sit down and talk, really talk, make decisions,
choices,
maybe have a beer, and maybe
laugh.
Once the talking is done

decide on who it is we

I

see when morning comes, there in the sheetflow,
there in the likeness,
there in the result. No apologies,
no justification.
Be my own witness
for once.
To testify
a unity.

Copyright 2006 by L. Ward Abel

L. Ward Abel Ward writes:
Sometimes in life, you reach a precipice, a watershed. This work reflects the need for a change to accept myself as I am, and not as others see me; a private urging to myself to become one person, composed of all that I am or can be. This requires accepting the muse and the "practical" voice as part of the whole that is me. Failure to do so could be fatal to whatever is left of the self.

L. Ward Abel is a poet, composer of music (Max Able/Abel, Rawls & Hayes), and spoken-word performer (Scapeweavel). He lives in rural Georgia, and has been widely published in the U.S. and Europe, including White Pelican Review, The Pedestal, erbacce (UK), Versal (Netherlands), Open Wide (UK), Ink Pot, Texas Poetry Journal, and others. His chapbook, Peach Box and Verge, has been recently published by Little Poem Press. His new book of poems, Jonesing For Byzantium, will be published later this year at UK Authors Press (Bristol, UK). Abel's website is www.universecanoe.com. He can be reached via email at: WAbel@ldpc.net.

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