Impatient at Diana’s Salon
for Diana
The man with no hair was next, or maybe
I couldn’t see what he considered out of place,
something only certain mirrors might recognize.
I couldn’t find one overrun ear on the others
in line, every edge was razor-sharp. They came
for something else, I decided, a cut out of reach
for clippers, too knotted for combs to groom.
They were back for a touch of Diana’s double,
a woman’s reflection working on their own.
They’ve wanted it for weeks, the rich glow
of cologne said so. They take a deep breath
as she gently presses the paper tunic in place,
adjusts the chair, begins. She wants them
to keep only enough to desire more, to dizzy
them with an interest just a few movements
short of caring. They need to believe they’ll
look different when they come back. I can’t
describe the way I feel when it’s my turn,
no gray growing in my eyes, just falling to
the floor as I forget what I wanted to say—
it passes so quickly you think it will never end.
Busy? I ask, moving myself to another mirror.
George Bishop’s work has appeared in The Commonline Journal, New Plains Review and The New Poet. He recently won the 2013 Peter Meinke Prize at YellowJacket Press for his sixth chapbook “Following Myself Home”. Bishop attended Rutgers University and now resides in Saint Cloud, Florida.