Back to Issue Twenty-Nine.

Dirty Mirror

BY DANA LEVIN

Everyone is No one.

But someone 
        could be Someone

        in the vertical
        topography

        of gods—

Which is to say Ladders,
        a creed thereof, stars (good), shit (bad)
        better than/less than, assumed degrees of shine

        and slime—

Invidia (Latin)—
Invidere: to look maliciously upon—
Videre: to see, in: upon,
                a logos of position,
                        “above, and in contact with”
                        “above, and supported by”
                                Envy—

Nobody sees your polish, 
        do they,

        Dirty Mirror—

Dana Levin is the author of four books, including SKY BURIAL, which The New Yorker called “utterly her own and utterly riveting.” A grateful recipient of honors from the Rona Jaffe, Whiting and Guggenheim Foundations, she serves as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Maryville University in Saint Louis. Her most recent book is BANANA PALACE. For more, visit danalevinpoet.com.

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