A Mirror's All It Takes (Poem)

A Mirror's All It Takes

Dress her in filigree
of gold threaded with silver

knots of blue, her hair a pinup
braid of petals twisted through.

Catch how your light falls
on her mass of red unfading bloom.

Let lie on her bared shoulders a willow
branch cape in whose depths she courts

your inner vision. Fix her to walk
with staff of rowan wood, a property

so magical no reason can betray
its power to harbor knowledge yet

untaught. Picture her in your mirror
just so then plumb what fortune may

be yours at risk to hearing what's unasked.

She will repeat not once what comes
to mind unbidden: Know the question

to find the answer. Follow outcomes
from taking your different paths. See

where the ball lands before it hits.
Chase it, or not.

© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
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I've included in this poem some of the colors, such as blue, and trees, such as willow and rowan, that myth holds out as symbols of intuition. Some think of intuition as a mysterious sixth sense with which we all are born; others are adamant it is a skill we can learn, reasoning it to be our innate ability to draw objectively on all our experiences, observations, perceptions, and stored information to enable us to make decisions. I liken intuition to looking in the mirror; depending on how you stand and in what kind of light, you might see your image reflected multiple times, each reflection representing another layer of you (intellect, emotions, beliefs, fears, instincts, etc.) on which to draw to live the life you want.

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I'm participating in the Domino Project's #Trust30 challenge, an online writing/reflection initiative for which a prompt is posted daily. All of the prompts to date are here.

This poem is inspired by the 24th prompt from author and teacher Susan Piver:

Intuition

The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you could picture your intuition as a person, what would he or she look like? If you sat down together for diner, what is the first thing he or she would tell you?

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I've used all of the #Trust30 prompts as inspiration for new poems. My responses to prompts 16 - 23 are:

Taking a Meeting

Hungry, Full, and Fed

Choosing What's Inside

The Seventh Day

Alternatives

Dreaming

Looking Elsewhere

Pressing It

You'll find my response to prompt 15, "Truth Be Told", and a list of my poems for prompts 1 - 14 here.