BARBARA
EHRENTREU
TRUE REFLECTION:
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE
WALL
As a girl I didn’t
believe the image as
I viewed my visage
the reflection not
what I expected
as much as I saw
myself I didn’t see me
I didn’t trust the
vision of that person
sometimes feeling
as if I were outside
of myself looking
at this body
always judging it
to be lacking
the face too plain
and the smile too wide
my backside too
large and breasts too small
and since I never
saw the real me I never knew
the real girl who
stared back
for I believed
this girl too fat, too ugly, too flat chested
unlike Snow
White’s wicked stepmother’s
mirror mirror on
the wall
mine always
answered not you and never you
So I walked
through life with this image
and then the world
discovered me
a naive teen who
would saunter
past store windows
afraid to peek at herself
this deluded girl
who wondered why suddenly
men were yelling
out of car windows
entreating her
attention, whistling as she passed,
wanted to place
herself into a paper bag to hide
from the unwanted
sudden attention
wanted to take
cover in her room
and crawl under
blankets
to escape the
peeling of her psyche’s skin
under the
microscope of the light of the
reflection of the
mirrors in the eyes of
unknown men who
saw a different image
when she stared
again at the familiar girl
the flat surface
of the mirror revealing
only the same
imperfections she saw all the time
she wondered if
her mind’s eye were clouded
by the sad
thoughts conjured each day
contemplating the
reason for this distortion —
the contrast
between her brain’s message
and the reality of
this
new blown
reflection in strangers’ eyes
and still not
trusting the platitudes of her parents —
she placed it all
inside of her
Never believing
her mirror until
a young man
sauntered into her life
and when she saw
her true image
in the mirror of
his eyes
she embraced the
glittering glow
reflecting into
her own
in that moment she
became
the vision of her
dreams and
no longer needed
the mirror
for she had the
truth in the
sharp eyed gaze of
her hazel-eyed love
copyright @2016 by Barbara Ehrentreu
Published in
You’ll Probably Forget Me:
Living With and Without Hal
OBSERVATION OF A WOMAN
IMAGINED
There was a quiet
dignity to her
and yet you could
not see beneath
the layers she
placed so carefully
over the center of
her soul
creating a shroud
surrounding her
an amorphous
shadow in which
she walked as if
the world should
touch her she
might melt or disappear
but if you
searched her eyes
those limpid azure
pools of sorrow
you knew she kept
the suffering at bay
and at times when
she thought no one
could see her a
tiny smile peeked out
as small as a
star’s reflection and only
for that moment
you imagined her life
before she had
retreated into the depths
perhaps filled
with lots of friends and music
a tiny crease
reflecting the smile’s demise
and still you
wondered at the cause of her
sorrow and pain
She shunned the
sun and preferred to
live in night’s
undefined presence
arriving before
closing to her favorite cafe
to sip a little
espresso and read alone
Did she dream of
her past life when she
walked in daylight
and hope followed her
as a willing
servant?
Was there a lost
love for whom she pined
as she delicately
held the tiny espresso cup and
sipped the warm
brown liquid?
She was an enigma
of walking beauty
her skin seemed
like porcelain as if
she might crack if
the world
found its way past
her defenses
a modern day Mona
Lisa come to life
hiding in her
brownstone and appearing
only when it was
dark when most had
gone home to their
significant others
wandering alone
aimlessly down the
winding streets
searching for lost dreams.
Copyright @ 2016 by Barbara
Ehrentreu
SEARCHING FOR ME
In the hazy
moments
between wake and
sleep
I miss you
the texture of
your beard
the hazel eyed
sharpness
of your gaze on
mine
the sound of soft
snores
the circle of your
arms
the place on your
chest
chiseled from
years to
fit my head and
soaked
with tears when
life
overstepped its
boundaries
the quiet moments
backed
with sounds of
jazz or rock
and the joy of
your smile
washing my day
with
bright vermillion
you swept me into
the
tornado of your
life
and I held on
tight
a willing
passenger
as we careened
giddy and eager as
it swirled
and I drifted in
its debris
as you swallowed
it all
and now I must
search
for the pieces of
me.
Copyright 2015
BARBARA EHRENTREU
Published in
You’ll Probably Forget Me:
Living With and Without Hal
BARBARA
EHRENTREU is from Brooklyn New York, but lives in Stamford, Connecticut, She was
in the Society’s 2016 Poetry Contest, and several of her poems are published in
the anthologies, World Poetry Open Mic, Prompted: An International Collection
of Poetry, Beyond the Dark Room, Storm Cycle and Backlit Barbell. She has a
blog, Barbara's Meanderings, and she hosts a radio show on Blog Talk Radio, Red
River Radio Tales from the Pages, once a month. She is a member of Greenwich
Pen Letters and SCBWI.
Barbara this is outstanding Poetry... I am so proud to call you friend..
ReplyDeleteDeborah, Thank you so much for the beautiful showcase!! I will let everyone know!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful <3
ReplyDeleteBarbara is a fantastic writer in her own right .... moving, inspirational ... she can draw emotions out of you that you held inside afraid to put them out there, for she is honest in her approach to sadness, loneliness and joy and laughter and love .... she is beautiful inside and out and I'm proud to call her a friend.
ReplyDeleteI love the work you do i love your poems they are heartfelt and wonderful keep up the great work Barbara for sure.
ReplyDelete