self-portrait without a mirror

by Esther Ra

self-portrait without a mirror

tears form small, glossy patches on the pool
of my skirt   remind me how small is my sorrow

after long stillness   my body hums   its tuneless
& squeaking refrain  kiln-dried spruce piano
in need of touch   to make music   your mouth
teaches me the shape of my own   measures
the size of my yearn & the library    a forest

of ghost-written    glass     daily I run my fingers
through the blades  emerge cut  & resplendent

with words      I see that   I feel that
    you are not alone        & every human I love

shines depthful & limpid     as a lake   reflecting pieces
of me  in creased ripples     you    who taught me

how to love this hard city      you    who shaped me
into stalactites of strength     I laugh cry whisper

soothe prattle dance  through your body   your throat
our shared lives     & I write this

words  that shimmer with light
the only refulgence   I can grasp

one moment  at my back   my shadow
on paper    I dissolve    into dawn

Poet Esther Ra is the author of A Glossary of Light and Shadow (Diode Editions, 2023) and book of untranslatable things (Grayson Books, 2018). Her work has been published in Boulevard, Rattle, The Rumpus, and PBQ, among others, and received awards including the Pushcart Prize and 49th Parallel Award. (estherra.com)

Artist Mirka Walter is an emerging visual artist from Cologne, Germany. Mirka is greatly influenced by surrealism and feminism. Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington should be mentioned here. She experiments with watercolor. In the past year, her art has appeared in more than 10 publications and exhibitions. You can find her on Instagram at @mirku.malt.