Reflections
Paul McLaughlin

If I lean a certain way, I can see
the back of your head

your soft hair sways
and dances to
the animated rhythms
of your speech

beside my face

I smile when your dancing hair
swirls and punctuates the cadence
of your  laughter

in the mirror on a pillar in the food court
at the mall.

I feel more human presence
in that momentary reflection

your soft hair dancing
to the cadence of your mind

than in a thousand faces in the strategy of mirrors

"Strategically placed mirrors promote spending by
providing hard surfaces that encourage
shoppers to enter the shops to obtain respite from the unrelenting cacophany of reflected noise."

that surrounds me when I'm shopping
at the mall.

November, 1999

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