from Shit Mystic
the mirror
walks away
mirrors
shouldn’t do that
to friends
pretend to sleep
when I look
for enough likes
to love I forget
that behind the hotel friend is
a sewage person
puked the mirror
together
out of other sewage
to eat of itself
it’s not clear
how it feels
when I smile
does the hotel friend feel
when I smile
it smells it
back for more
the hotel
will miss me
the way a fire misses
the forest of no trees
or a drone misses
death can only miss
what it knows
and it has never
burp kissed me
in sewage
or sucked my eyes
dry with its eyes
to look into the mirror is to live
at an angle
in a targeted ad about this
line drawing
of two snails
silvering the earth
with gunk
thousands of snaps worth
and not one recognized face
unless the face is an idea
relieved of ooze and voice
but in your gut
you know your brains
slosh around
you hear them
sloshing like truth
stinking up the filter
the stink almost godly
the godstink truth
memory of god
glow it out
the lowly slop
glow it out
luxe it
the shit out of it
crop the thumb
crop the gunk
the stink
the snails
same shit
everything
but the face
the face is where you are
in the selfie
in the right light
try to hold it
the gunk leaves
a beautiful pearlescent crust
don’t you agree
Peter Cole Friedman is a preschool teacher and writer living in Brooklyn. He is the co-founder of the literary/arts platform glitterMOB.