"Mirror Mirror" by Chad Hanson

[audio mp3="http://barnstormjournal.org/content/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/mirror-mirror.mp3"][/audio] 

Near the end, Carter began to think that mirrors wereunreliable. When he walked past his reflection inthe shopping mall, he saw a coyote by his side. Helooked down, quickly. No coyote. In the morning,above the bathroom sink, he saw chokecherries inbloom behind him, so he turned around. Sheetrock. Inthe shiny paint of a new car—he saw himself—a crowon his shoulder.

After checking in to the local hospice, a nurse madesure that he felt comfortable. She asked, “Can I get youanything?” He said, “I would like a mirror. Hand-heldmirror. Please.”

Chad Hanson serves as Chairman of the Department of Sociology & Social Work at Casper College. He is the author of Swimming with Trout (University of New Mexico Press, 2007), Trout Streams of the Heart (Truman State University Press, 2013), and Patches of Light: Prose Poems (Red Dragonfly Press, 2014). His recent awards include the Meadowhawk Prize and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council. For more information, visit: www.chadhanson.org.