February 2017
Carole Stone
stonec@mail.montclair.edu
stonec@mail.montclair.edu
I am Professor emerita Montclair State University where I taught in the English Department for many years. Recent poems have appeared in Adanna, Cavewall. Blue Fifth Review. My fifth book of poetry, LATE was published by Turning Point in 2016. I spend my time between Verona, NJ and Springs, East Hampton, NY.
A Woman’s Face
I look into the mirror to see who’s there.
Is this a trick a magician plays?
She looks like me but with wrinkles and gray hair.
I hardly recognize the woman who stares
back but I’m not ready to give up my gaze
into the mirror to see who’s there.
Have I reached the stage where I need to prepare
to live with whomever I am these days?
She looks like me but with wrinkles and gray hair.
I search for my former self everywhere,
on the dance floor where she sways.
I look into the mirror to see who’s there.
Not the woman I was with my fashion flair,
so young and ready for nightly soirées.
She looks like me but with wrinkles and gray hair.
I won’t let myself fall into despair.
It’s tough when, like desire, your face decays.
I look into the mirror: I see who’s there.
She looks like me with wrinkles and gray hair.
©2017 Carole Stone
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