​The Looking Glass: An Afterwards by Anna Cates

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: The Looking Glass. Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

    Beauty is a simple passion,
    but, oh my friends, in the end . . . —Anne Sexton

Do not doubt me.  Magic mirrors never lie.  And do not try to break me.  Magic mirrors never crack.  But you will reap the seven years bad luck just the same. 

Controversial though I am, most of what you see in me is just your own reflection.  Yet you are more transparent than you think, albeit rippled.  Indeed, I am no omniscient god.  On some days, cloudy skies shed no color on the waters.  And some pools are murky, bogs heaven-laden with frogs . . .  

In the end, I could barely discern her, the troubled queen, hidden behind her demon,  Arabesque.    

Lightning strikes where it will.  I am but an interpreter of shadows.  

    better a mile
    in ruby slippers . . .
    red hot iron shoes

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About the author:
Dr. Anna Cates teaches writing, literature, and education online and has published a variety of books (poetry, fiction, and drama) through www.cyberwit.net, prolificpress.com, redmoonpress.com, and wipfandstock.com.  Her full-length poetry collection, Love in the Time of Covid, won an Illumination Book Award.  She resides in Wilmington, Ohio with her two cats.