(in remembrance of Carolyn Rodgers and “Some Me of Beauty”)
This morning
I left the house
looking bad
Clothes wrinkled
Hair matted
Neck wrinkled
Shoes dirty
Lips drooping
I was
tore up from the floor up
When I got off the elevator
I walked toward the mirror
That mirror in the hallway that I hate
That mirror that I try not to see
But that always says,
Hey,
how you doing?
to me
I looked in that mirror
And I almost cried.
So I turned back
To get a hat
To cover my gray head
And a scarf
To hide my wrinkled neck
When a hand that I could not see
Turned me back around
And I looked in that mirror again
Took a long breath
And with the strength of every wrinkle on my body
I said
This is it,
This is what I’m working with today.
So fuck you
and get out of my way
Then I picked up my droop and my wrinkles
And I walked out the door
And the sun smiled
And I smiled back
And on this day
We were very happy together.
-Written 04/17 & 04/18/2026
Stacy Torian 