Mirror, mirror on the wall
this really isn’t fair at all.
Who’s the stranger that I see?
Where are all the bits of me?
Where’s the baby small and fresh
who splintered when he licked her flesh?
Where’s the child who tries to hide
each time he comes to climb inside?
Where’s the teen he tried to strangle
with his hands and words that mangle?
Where’s the adult half asleep
who barely talks but likes to weep?
Where’s the mother drenched in fear
each time her baby sheds a tear.
What is this holocaust reflection
that glares with sinister perfection?
This fractured creature, 43,
it doesn’t look a bit like me.
I see the rape, the burns, the slaughter,
How could he sacrifice his daughter?
Mirror, mirror on the wall
this really isn’t fair at all.

This poem came to me when I saw this book.
Note about the use of word “holocaust”. I would never want to hurt any survivor or family members who lost relatives in WWII or minimise the enormity of suffering and devastation of the Holocaust for Jewish people by using the word holocaust in this poem. It’s my understanding that lowercase holocaust is not the same as THE Holocaust but if I am incorrect, please comment below and I will change the word. For myself, childhood trauma has been a complete and utter soul death and I felt the word appropriate.
Wow. So unfair. Amazing that you made a rhyming poem so weighty. It’s tight and raw – a sob from the heart. The hell that people put other people through.
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Thank you. The rhyming is a little corny but it was satisfying to write.
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I didn’t find it corny. 🙂
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Raw and painful…but must say… beautifully written 🤗💟
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Thank you so much
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a scarifying ride into dissociation; the rhymes all work — and that book looks worth a look in: I will put it on my list of reads; great title 🙂
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Thank you! 😊
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Oof. The simple rhyming pattern actually makes it more haunting
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Thank you! I wasn’t sure it would work
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