Girl of a Thousand Faces

At the age of maybe four,
I discoverfed greatness in the mirror. Every day, I counted altered faces, numbering each lip contortion,
every phase of smile, cataloging sets
of frown, grimacing by degrees, combined with brow-arches, inverted gums, squints, furrows, carefully
numbering my path to be
the Girl of a Thousand Faces,
a girl like no other.

My imagined audience
was an admiring future yet unseen, until my sister scowled and said, "Stop looking in the mirror!
Or you'll become conceited."

So I pretended not to see the mirror,
never holding one - I always looked away. Purified from counting, I became
the Girl With No Face.
A girl like no other.

Siham Karami

If you have any comments on this poem, Siham Karami would be pleased to hear them.