A Question Of Identity

On her 90th birthday she looked in the mirror
and tried to identify the face looking back.
She felt the same as ever
but the face,
that was the mystery
how could she connect the two,
how she felt and how she looked.
Perhaps a mystic would tell her
that the face had been through the fire of life,
but so had everything that made up her identity,
or more accurately, her multiple identities,
different ones for every occupation,
every relationship
and every situation.
The ones foisted on her by parents
were soon rejected and replaced
by the ones she made up for herself,
different identities 
but always the same person,
easily recognised
but not in that mirror
but something to celebrate.


Cracking Open

Concrete and clay
glass ensconced
in metal frames,
paint on board,
gas in pits,

once
it meant something 
once
it had a purpose.

It’s over now
purposeless
cracked
empty
waiting
for a future
hoping 
that soon
something
will make its way
through the cracks
as time passes.

So now 
look 
carefully,
see
already 
something
is emerging

finding its way
making 
a new beginning
after the end.

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including: Consequence Journal, Firewords, Capsule Stories, Gyroscope Review and So It Goes. Visit her website and Facebook page.

Image: “Crack in the Pavement” from Sheila Sund from Salem, United States, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.