Self-Portrait in a Bathroom Mirror is a short poem by Jayrold Trasporte and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme Infectious for the month of June

Self-Portrait in a Bathroom Mirror

Again, I cut myself while shaving
And the silver eye of the mirror fastens wide

Reflecting a man-built face who taps the shaver
Against the red dipper pretending it does not hurt.

Outside, I stand at the mouth of the blue-green landscape.
Fetching a name spelled in the dust. In the calculus

Of looking around, I almost saw myself in the wind.
What, I ask, must it take to fill the in-between spaces

Of gaping selves? Reclaiming the mainland of body. Opening its gate for the soft animals that may come.

Accepting a flower despite not knowing what to do with it.
Every time I enter through the door of the world, afamiliar

• hesitation: I pull my foot back from the threshold,
  Too embarrassed they are not clean enough.