Before Mirrors

Before the genesis of mirrors, the statelye ladye,
requiring to be painted,
relied on serviteurs,
who would apply the whites and blacks, rare blues,
the ochres and vermilions,
that clashed with costly purple cloth she wore,
dyed with macerated molluscs from the shore,

looking like a clown or flower
or ought else the serving girls conjured
from their palette of earthly minerals..
Of course, she could inspect and judge the work,
but vertically only, in still pools, looking down.
Ah, but who might scrutinise for long that angled sight
— of sagging cheek, of double chin?

And then some nameless tinker polished hard
a plate of bronze to highest smooth perfection,
which meant the statelye ladye could then check
and monitor and even use the pots of paste herself.
And thus was born cosmetic art and gentlemen were conned,
except for Perseus who turned his metal sheet upon
that wretch Medusa who, shrieking, died utterly of shame.

Clive Donovan


If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Clive Donovan would like to hear them.