my reflection

my reflection is a liar

it conspires

with my years

it tortures like an enemy

for what i see

brings tears

the sagging skin

the lips so thin

the lines around my eyes

the greying hair

the glow not there

does not reflect inside

for if it did you’d see me there

more beautiful than ever

more confident

much more content

and really rather clever

but the mirror likes to taunt me

likes to haunt me

with this figure

growing wider

cannot hide her

menopause the ugly trigger

yet I wouldn’t trade a single thing

and wish the clock reversed

i do not long for days of youth

for that would be perverse

each year has made me stronger

made me bolder

made me me

I would not give a wrinkle back

unsettling as it seems

my reflection is an honest friend

whose truth is often heavy

yet this weight i can bear

for the me right here

when not my own worst enemy

Unknown's avatar

Author: Anne Celano Frohna

I have been writing for as long as I could hold a pencil in hand and would not feel complete without it. And I actually made a meager living at it (and as an editor) for 25 years. I worked for newspapers and magazines, in graphic arts and advertising, and wrote several local history books. But I have also taught English in Japan, been a Nanny/family chef in Italy, worked in and for museums, was an Airbnb Superhost for four years, as well as an Etsy shop owner, where I sold vintage items I found over the years at thrift stores and yard sales. After moving to Arizona with my family in 2010, I completed a series of different writing projects, including two books of creative non-fiction: Just West of the Midwest: a comedy (Based on journals I kept during my two years as an English teacher in rural Japan.) Within Close Range: short stories of an American Childhood (Short stories and poems about growing up as the middle of five children in suburban Chicago.) But in the past few years, I have found my voice in poetry. I am a mother of two wonderful girls, Eva (26) and Sophia (24) and wife to one wonderful husband, Kurt. In 2023, with our girls grown and off on their own, my husband and I packed up our things and moved to the tip of Italy’s heel, to the Salento region, where I continue to work on my poetry, as well as a new fiction project, and indulge in my passion for mosaics - all of which you can view on my Instagram page @ acfrohna.

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