to keep us attentive
to the important things
to show us this life
is only a reflection
of the next one
white ibis stalking among the reeds
the next life too
dissolves in a flickering
of brushstrokes, we are
what we are: living mirrors
merely borrowing the light
blue scarab, cat made of bronze
the oldest known mirror
is made of polished stone
the images no more
than fleeting caresses
the slightest breeze
alabaster jar, carved wooden archer
when you grow lonely,
almost dead yet still
green, remember your lips
are painted with crushed flowers,
with ochre, sealed in beeswax
at your kiss, the jailor’s door springs
Jory Mickelson is a trans writer whose first book, WILDERNESS//KINGDOM, is the inaugural winner of the Evergreen Award Tour from Floating Bridge Press and winner of the 2020 High Plains Book Award in Poetry. Their publications include Court Green, DIAGRAM, Poetry Northwest, Jubilat, Terrain.org, and The Rumpus. They are the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and were awarded fellowships from the Lambda Literary Foundation, Winter Tangerine, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. They are a 2022 Jack Straw Writer in Seattle, Washington. You can read more of their work at jorymickelson.com.
Image: “Ace of Spades in situ” by George Weinisch
Pine Hills Review 