narcissus you find in your mirror and learn to live with
by Edward Mycue
you don’t have to be sober to be free of your self-addiction
what’s oppositional makes for a wide circle
there may be many things you can’t envision.
make a finger novena.
i invented the finger novena: you make a wish on 9
fingers 9 times imploring the BVM or Siddhartha or
dead friends to channel something you are sticking on.
then you do a clog-like dance step, go all forgetting &
blank, and hope you wake up with an answer—as if
waiting for the daily mail to bring you news of an
unknown endowment or some other kind of groovy-
cool inheritance (along with a release from joint ache, a
head of hair, pecs, abs, ability to sing and play the piano).
you never can ‘no’
but sometimes yes
you have to proceed
by darn and by guess.
learn to love, your itchy, twitchy, goofy, self-image.
accept your shadow-self without feeling a martyr.
if the heat goes off, just put on more clothes.
when it gets too cold, it’s time to smash the mirror.