General Poetry posted April 24, 2024


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Ego Trip

Through A Glass Darkly

by Terry Reilly

You are me…or are You?

You look…quite like me. But subtle differences pertain.

The resemblance is merely superficial. Misleading, skin deep.

.Two dimensional not three. Flat white rather than gutsy espresso.

A painting, not a sculpture. Pastel shades. No geometric bronze.


You are me, I suppose. Or one representation of who I am.

My ears are different sizes, that’s true. But your deception fails.

The Devil’s in the detail. My right is bigger than my left. But You!

You have confused your symmetry. Your left asserts its dominance.


You are me, but not me. A skilled impostor. Those watery white-filmed eyes belong to another.

Mine, I know, are piercing blue, with the power to enchant.

Those eyebrows, too. Like scattered feathers after a pigeon fight.

They mock the reality of my strong, bushy, black hedges.


You are me, but only to the distracted glance of a passing cyclist.

An intimate would not be fooled. That pale, flabby skin, drooping in folds, betrays your guile.

My tight, tanned furrowless face has always fascinated the fanciers. Of whom there were many.

And that bulbous, pitted nose is but a surrealist pastiche of my aquiline centrepiece.

What rancorous audacity to ridicule me thus.


You are me, in the nightmare of a delirious sot or a magic mushroom muncher.

Your hair, like scattered grains of sand on a polluted beach, affronts my gaze.

My locks of tarry rope, prime capital investment, are nowhere to be seen.

The scar upon your cheek, proud relic of a duel, is mousy grey, not scarlet red.

I fear you seek to undermine my warranted self-love and rewrite my history.


But, of course, you are not me. You are a masked pretender.

Yet, if I retreat one step, then seek to appraise the totality of your visage,

coalescing the individual features into an Impressionist whole, perhaps…

yes, You might just…be ME.

I perceive, feel, intuit the essence of my being. Your face…My face…is alive,

intelligent, sensitive, confident, wise, sensual, knockout handsome. Yeah!

I correct my misapprehension. You and I are one. Symbiotic. We love Us!




Oh, you are... are you? writing prompt entry
Writing Prompt
Write a humorous free verse or free style poem about YOU, as though you are talking to yourself! Recommended (but not required) that you start every stanza (except your last stanza) with "You are..." . You may start your last stanza with whatever you choose. Your poem can be of any length and genre.


Vain, disbelieving musings upon seeing my reflection in a mirror.
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Artwork by Maureen Woychyshyn at FanArtReview.com

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© Copyright 2024. Terry Reilly All rights reserved.
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