Starfish, Bird, and A Black Spotted Mirror

"These are for you," she said, smiling at me,

with her violet eyes, that stretched out 

over her lips, wider and wider, baring 

her sweet milk teeth, floating in the black

spotted mirror. Her smile pulled and dragged both cheeks

apart, till her chubby face cracked open:

a split pomegranate, the bleeding seeds

spilling out between cherubic lips,

glistening pink and pouting. She spread 

her tiny palms and fingers wide, like two baby

starfish at me, each stretching and rippling

out in flickering tongues of fire, reaching out

to lick my face. "These are for you, Daddy!" 

her shrill scream rose and fell in waves.

"For my starved infant arms and legs

all twisted and mangled. These are for you, Mommy! 

My rotting skull and bones lie

buried deep in the cold mud. Freezing!"

And the eerie echoes rose and fell, then fell

and rose, in waves of stinking nausea, until

a little white bird flew from the mirror's heart,

cracked from frame to frame. Amid splinters 

frozen in time, it soared past billowing curtains.

Silent. Vanished over hills and shadowless vales.