Dysmorphia

by A.M. Broadous
April 2021

You lift the lid of this box

belonging in a wall-papered home

            bursting with little white flowers

to find a pearl-lined mirror in which

objects may be farther than they appear—

            the snowy sheen of enamel, a hairline,

a hand to hold. Only now do you

notice the tiny dancer pirouettes

            without you on a stage of pink velvet.

Her melody is a nursery rhyme, tinny

notes you’ve long since outgrown, unlike

            your Easter Island head.

This girl still dances, the tune lifting

her tutu higher and higher until you are

            small, until you are nothing at all.

She twirls on one plastic leg,

sturdier than you have ever been

            in your life. So poised and perfect

as this ballerina pivots—not pivots

but turns—away and away and away from

            you with eyes that wouldn’t love you even if

they could. Will she end

this song, or should you?