Pink chiffon

Cotton candy hair

Floral wallpaper

Ashtray filled

of virgina slims

Eyes so dark that her pupils get lost

She gets lost

Sometimes

Forgets to come out of the bathtub

Lost in the tiles

Imagining faces between the cracks

She looks out at the glow of the street lights

A single

Flickers

The dark carnival is coming

She looks down at her ashtray

Thinks about taking it out

The cigarettes turn to caterpillars

she turns to her bookshelf  

Watches the books turn to dust

And she wonders what's for dinner

She sits on the davenport, still

The record player begins to play

She twitches

Gets up to look in the mirror
Her face

She notices the wrinkles forming

At the corners of her eyes

Around her lips

She touches them

Remembers the ad for a special lotion in the paper



She stands in the mirror & touches it

Her hand slips through the mirror

Grasps her reflection

Her face begins to fall further

Begins to melt off

She glances quickly at her reflection

Now she stand in a room full of mirrors

Mirrors of all kinds

Melting all around her





-The dark carnival is here