"Self-Portrait"
write-alike by Gayatri

"Self-Portrait" write-alike by Gayatri

I read somewhere

that if you saw someone who looked just like you

you would not recognize them, so far

removed are we from our own faces

When I look in the mirror, I do not see myself

She looks like me, maybe

if I squint a little

But I wonder, as I stare into her glassy eyes

where is the passion, behind the deadened stare

There are smile lines near my eyes, but

not hers

Little bits of other people, tucked

into the folds of my skin

My mother’s laugh, my father’s weathered hands

Smiles borrowed from friends

A quirk of an eyebrow I stole from a girl

I saw once on the train.

I do not know myself as well

as I know these people

So I imagine them in my place instead

And I hope somewhere, someone else

sees me in their place.