The trick is to return from somewhere
you haven’t been. This time,
I am climbing the building
on top of the building.
I’m ready now. Or, my reflection is.
When the night gets sharp enough,
it is feminine. It whittles itself
into underwater caverns.
The recipe calls for mirror shards
and a full jar of honey to make it easier.
It won’t be easier.
I wake up and think the chair
and my jacket are a girl with long,
ore-black hair, her horrible mouth
open and hovering.
If I hold still, the air trembles
and her face moves
even after I know
it is not a face.
Night opens on a hinge
howling and bellowing,
a long cold corridor of stars
consuming all.
Mike Bagwell is a writer and software engineer based in Philly. He received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence and his work appears or is forthcoming in trampset, Halfway Down the Stairs, HAD, BULL, Bodega, Whiskey Island, and others. Some editors have kindly nominated him for a Pushcart. He is the author of the chapbook A Collision of Soul in Midair (forthcoming from Bottlecap Press). He was the founding editor and designer of El Aleph Press and his work can be found at mikebagwell.me.
Image: cdn.quotesgram.com
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Heavy Feather Review 