4
A barber cutting hair in a mirror
Lets the hair fall from scissors
Out of the mirror’s frame
Into the river of time.
The seamstress measuring
A length of reflection
Before marking with chalk
The material of the immaterial.
Night traffic in a mirror
Like a city photograph
That melts its neon
Over the raining light.
A mirror that shows flowers.
A door that opens without opening,
And lightning in rain showers
With thunder infolding.
3
The saddest rake in the world,
Raking leaves in a mirror
As though it danced alone.
The most invisible point,
Lovers looking at each other
For the last time in a mirror.
Tables, curtains, paintings
And other unintended interiors
Are parts of the sum of mirrors.
The wind blowing in a mirror
Equals the weight of time
That goes unnoticed.
The coldest mirrors melted,
Drowning the stars
And flooding the earth.
2
The longest rains
Fall in the country of mirrors.
The shortest day was recorded
In the almanac of mirrors.
Time so infinitesimal it is stopped
By a mirror like a hummingbird heart.
Music and mirrors are such intimates
Degas painted a mirror of dance.
1
All the violence and not even a ripple across the surface.
The mirror left an immaculate oval on the wall.
Mirrors and clocks: machines that have agreed not to merge.
Monet’s waterlilies– a mirror in water.
Mirrors in mirrors, the music of loss reflected in love.
Salvatore Ala 