COMPETITION PROMPT

Write a poem or story about a mirror struggling with the fact that she has no identity of her own. (What could this be symbolic of?)

Broken Glass


Invisible, in this little glass booth

Sound enters my ear, then exits my tooth

Foreign ambassadors deliberate

Tone-deaf boss, joking inappropriate

I interpret his words just as uncouth


Then the next day, while chatting on the phone

My daughter chides, Mom, you must be a clone

You gotta know that you talk just like him

Biting words, my daughter’s criticism

My, when did my little girl get so grown


I’m a glorified spirit medium

With zero individualism

This flesh and blood microphone, echoing

Now echoes there will be a reckoning

Cue my disquieting delirium


One fine morning in a D.C. boardroom

Gaudy fluorescents like a car showroom

My boss praises its lively aesthetic

Rather, I quip the place looks synthetic

But am I still his parrot?—he’d assume


Critical meeting, time to push harder

Weeks in the making, take this stand farther

Final step of the negotiation

Needs one word—a simple affirmation

Instead, a ‘no’, barks this interpreter


Expecting sadness, yet feel elation

After immediate termination

Once trapped behind glass, my life a mirror

Echoless shards now carve a path, clearer

Wow, Mom, I love your new transformation



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