Response to "Mirror"

The Poem:

                        Mirror by Sylvia Plath

               I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

               Whatever I see I swallow immediately

               Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

               I am not cruel, only truthful --

               The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

               Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

               It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

               I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.

               Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

               Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

               Searching my reaches for what she really is.

               Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

               I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

               She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

               I am important to her. She comes and goes.

               Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

               In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

   Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

My Response:

Through My Eyes

As I peer into the shiny glass,

I see a face, staring back.

I see blue eyes,

As deep as the ocean,

As clear as the sky.

I see freckles,

Standing out,

Against the background,

Of pale skin.

I see eyelashes,

Long and dark,

Like tree branches.

I see wavy brown hair,

Not too short,

But not very long,

Surrounding the face,

Glinting in the sun.

I see two ears,

Dangled with something silver,

Glowing peach in the sky’s light.

I see me.

            I chose to write a poem about my appearance to match the theme of appearances in “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. I wrote the poem from my own perspective, although it could seem like the mirror is the one speaking at some parts, describing all the things that it sees to the reader. By looking at my own image, I chose to point out some of the things about myself that stand out, or that I like most about myself. I think that we become so familiar with our own reflections that sometimes we find it hard to describe ourselves, as I did when writing this poem.