Michaela Mayer

Bertha in the Mirror  

“But presently she took my veil from its place; she held it up, gazed at it long, and then she threw it over her own head, and turned to the mirror. At that moment I saw the reflection of the visage and features quite distinctly in the dark oblong glass... it removed my veil from its gaunt head, rent it in two parts, and flinging both on the floor, trampled on them.”[1]

another blistering spell passes

over us, your anger broiling

beneath the punishing sun

i wish i could say it was just summer

but your fury is familiar, was once

mine, years ago, a girl

feeling her first heatwave press

its power through her blood

and i, no, did not remember

until this moment, how righteous

you believe you are, the wronged

and long-suffering, too good

to be hurt in the way that she was,

a stable adult very skilled at

communicating, as if manipulation

skips the worthy, as if you could,

by sheer droit de vertueux/uese,

escape my fate, drench the burning bed,

and quench his thirst with your incorruptible kiss.

[1] Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press, 1999. Print.

Scorched Earth Policy 

“‘I really hated his ex-girlfriend, but now I’m realizing he must have done the same stuff to her he’s doing to me’” [2]

how he kept us apart / kept truth from sprouting /

from the tender earth of friendship: // a cruelty /

of salt-sown soil / his fear and spite / that you

might tell / with the withered stalk of your words /

his true self to me // the fields on fire: my first love /

burning up his past / licking to ash the evidence //

my fidelity to the liar / the conqueror / the tyrant //

yet your kindness / a stone spire / remained /

years later, grateful, i spoke: // apologies /

from the tongue of a traitor

 [2] Bancroft, Lundy. Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men. W. Ross MacDonald School, Resource Services Library, 2008.

Bio

Michaela Mayer is a 25-year-old teacher and poet from Virginia. She holds a B.A. in English from the College of William & Mary, and an Ma.Ed. from the same institution. Her works have previously appeared in Perhappened, Feral, Barren, Claw & Blossom, and other magazines.