BARBARA EHRENTREU

BARBARA EHRENTREU

TRUE REFLECTION:

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL

As a girl I didn’t believe the image as

I viewed my visage

the reflection not what I expected

as much as I saw myself I didn’t see me

I didn’t trust the vision of that person

sometimes feeling as if I were outside

of myself looking at this body

always judging it to be lacking

the face too plain and the smile too wide

my backside too large and breasts too small

and since I never saw the real me I never knew

the real girl who stared back

for I believed this girl too fat, too ugly, too flat chested

unlike Snow White’s wicked stepmother’s

mirror mirror on the wall

mine always answered not you and never you

so I walked through life with this image

and then the world discovered me

a naive teen who would saunter

past store windows afraid to peek at herself

this deluded girl who wondered why suddenly

men were yelling out of car windows

entreating her attention, whistling as she passed,

wanted to place herself into a paper bag to hide

from the unwanted sudden attention

wanted to take cover in her room

and crawl under blankets

to escape the peeling of her psyche’s skin

under the microscope of the light of the

reflection of the mirrors in the eyes of

unknown men who saw a different image

when she stared again at the familiar girl

the flat surface of the mirror revealing

only the same imperfections she saw all the time

she wondered if her mind’s eye were clouded

by the sad thoughts conjured each day

contemplating the reason for this distortion —

the contrast between her brain’s message

and the reality of this

new blown reflection in strangers’ eyes

and still not trusting the platitudes of her parents —

she placed it all inside of her

never believing her mirror until

a young man sauntered into her life

and when she saw her true image

in the mirror of his eyes

she embraced the glittering glow

reflecting into her own

in that moment she became

the vision of her dreams and

no longer needed the mirror

for she had the truth in the

sharp eyed gaze of her hazel-eyed love

A STUDY OF LOVE

Love can’t be dissected

it doesn’t lie there like

a specimen waiting for

someone to uncover

its secret

the tantalizing thread

it casts cannot be seen

until too late and then

there you are in the net

caught by the gossamer

delight of the thrill

no roller coaster ride

can duplicate the

charge that connects

you to the other

forever in a wild and

crazy dance through

the years and you

swirl with the changes

as the whirlpool sucks

you deeper into its vortex

FLASH – AN INCOMPARABLE NEWFOUNDLAND

What I would give for one more moment of your soft fur against
my cheek and your head on my lap
for one more day
spent watching
your tail swish back
and forth and your
pink tongue lap my
face

The black and white
fur-ness of you as
you commanded the
space in which you were
majestic as a king; you
comforted my daughters
as they lay against your
massive body and you
served as their bean bag
chair content to accommodate
their toddler shapes

You were my comfort
when all human company
failed and I miss the
exuberance of your welcome,
your whole body shaking back
and forth as it leapt upward
forgetting your manners
to lick me hello.  No welcome will ever
be as sweet.

BARBARA EHRENTREU

BARBARA EHRENTREU grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Queens. She has lived and taught in Long Island, Buffalo, NY and Westchester, NY as well as a year in Los Angeles, CA. She has a Masters Degree in Reading and Writing K-12. Currently she is retired from teaching and living in Stamford, CT with her family. If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor won second prize in Preditors & Editors as Best Young Adult Book for 2011. It was inspired by Paula Danziger for her children's writing workshop at Manhattanville College. Her second book, After, considers what can happen to a teen when her father becomes ill with a heart attack. It is based on her own experiences when her husband had a heart attack and the aftermath of what she and her family experienced. She is preparing the sequel to If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor. Barbara also writes poetry. She has a book called You’ll Probably Forget Me: Living With and Without Hal, which is a memorial to her deceased husband. Several of her poems are published in the anthologies,World Poetry Open Mic, Prompted: An International Collection of Poetry, Beyond the Dark Room,Storm Cycle and Backlit Barbell. Barbara has a blog, Barbara's Meanderings, and she hosts a radio show on Blog Talk Radio, Red River Radio Tales from the Pages, once a month. She is a member of Greenwich Pen Letters and SCBWI. Place of origin: United States Language:  English Nationality: American Place of living:  Stamford, CT.