Full of Myself
Corey Mesler
I stood outside Hell.
I triple-dog-dared Cerberus.
I was brash.
I was full of myself.
I was full of something else
too. I looked in
as far as my eye could
see around the bend.
It wasn’t for me.
I returned to the walking-around
world that we
take for granted.
I was still full of myself.
Who are you?
I said to the woman in white.
Who are you?
I said to the mirror.
I am your opposite, the mirror
answered.
I am your wife and child.
I’m pretty sure the mirror was
full of me, too.
Corey Mesler
Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Lunch Ticket, Good Poems American Places, and New Stories from the South. He has published over 45 books of fiction and poetry. His newest book, The World is Neither Stacked for Nor Against You: Selected Short Stories, is from Livingston Press. He also wrote the screenplay for We Go On, which won The Memphis Film Prize in 2017. With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.