My mom reminds me of Snow White’s stepmother.
Only she seems so worried, so sad.
I watch her act out “Mirror, Mirror on the wall”.
She moves around invisible laugh lines
places a finger on each cheekbone
and pulls the skin to some plastic state.
She gathers small sections of hair in her fingers
picks through each piece like she was inspecting
for lice. She finds a strand or two of white, maybe more.
I can’t tell. The mirror shows me her tears.
I want to run to her, hug her, but she would become
the Evil Queen and banish me from her bedroom.