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  • Speculum
  • Derek Mong (bio)

Have I cornered you, my self again, Hiding inside this red-washed face, below The curtain of our hair? Do you mind If I clear an oval in the mirror and show My face your face vignetted in the steam? Can we now reconcile my fear that you [End Page 136] Exist but ostensibly, ghost on the bathroom Wall whose pupils eclipse when I construe Words for the stuff reflected in the frame? Showerhead, spigot mount, Juniper shampoo— Each breath fogs the mirror, we déjà vu Again. Suppose then we agree on steam Between our mouths, breath clouds through Which our tongues cross, kiss, and turn The expression of our likenesses into Something as analogous as names? So sit still. Exhale. Mimic the man who Stares you down and watch his eyes widen Like holes you're falling through. You know Two words to halt it all: You do? No. I am.

Derek Mong

Although born in Portland, Oregon, Derek Mong was raised outside Cleveland and educated at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He has a brother living on the island of Kauai, parents in Washington State and extended family spread from Dallas to Berkeley. Currently he lives in Ann Arbor, where he attends the University of Michigan’s MFA program and teaches. In 2005 he was given a Hopwood Award for a poetry manuscript in which “To an Older Sibling, Miscarried” appeared. Of the poems here he writes: “‘Re: Vitruvian Man’ is a failed attempt to capitalize on The Da Vinci Code’s popularity. ‘Recoil’ stems from an experience with a landlord who insisted I hold his automatic weapon while we talked politics.” This summer the Southern Review will publish a translation sequence he made from medieval Latin hymns. This is his first publication.

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