Prismatic
By: Michele Habel-Coffey
Transparent glass with angles
Pointed, dense and clear
Traditional triangles
Sometimes used as mirrors
Reflecting what’s internal
No colors bursting through
Just an image of yourself
Starring back at you
This requires angles
Of the steepest kind
The narrowest of options
For the narrowest of minds
Who only want to see themselves
Reflected in the glass
Instead of all the colors
That at better angles pass
Through the surface of the prism
Refractions of the light
Dispersions of the varied waves
Rainbows, spectrums, sight
There’s beauty in the colors
Much more than just plain white
But one must meet the other
At an angle that’s just right
To produce the dancing rainbow
For all the world to see
Takes more than just a piece of glass
Or varied energies
Conversations of the past
Call to mind a prism
Geometric and triangular
Common colloquialism
But rainbows don’t just come
From the shapes of yesterdays
It all about the angles
Dispersing light, refracting waves
Even tears can make a rainbow
As they’re falling to the ground
Pain calling forth a beauty
Without a single sound
I prefer refractions
And dancing colored rays
To self-absorbed amusement
Reflections showing age
Remember ole’ Narcissis?
Poor fool, you know he drowned?
In a shallow pool reflecting
The image of a clown
So if you want to see a rainbow
Stop gazing in the mirrors
At the hardest, steepest angles
As rigid as your fears
Bend a little, my dear friend
I promise you won’t break
But instead might see a rainbow
Put down the mirror, for Heaven’s sake!
