once
destroyed,
by one incident
of poor self-
image,
the mind’s perception
of who we are
crumbles and
falters in the
wind

the pieces
zipping away
with the gusts,
we’re never quite
who we thought
we were

the face in the mirror
is not the face we
remember

the face other’s see
is not the same one
we see

it used to be
that this
was never a
problem

those terrible,
life-shattering
instances of
sudden and total
evaporation of
our mind’s images
and thoughts
often never
came

we could go our
whole lives
and never know
any better

so what happened?