Author's Bio.

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Mushroom Montoya circumnavigated the globe aboard the USS Trippe DE1075 after killing soldiers, woman and children in Viet Nam. Now, as a shaman, he heals the planet one person at a time. Mushroom Montoya has an active shamanic healing practice in Long Beach, California and he teaches at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal State Univ. Long Beach.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Stranger in the Mirror


I wore my beard proudly
When I was in the Navy
So many years ago
In my Navy Dress Blues.

‘Tis a shock to look and see
A new reflection,
A derailed deflection,
A possible rejection,
Of the me I saw
Just moments ago,

Staring into the mirror
At a face so familiar
Before the arrival,
To end the survival,
To kill an abundance of curls and swirls,

To massacre ten years of grooming,
By using a blade for brooming
Away the accustomed, habituated,
Acclimated, well adjusted,
Ordinary of my face.

To whack away,
Shave away,
Banish ten years of bearded
Facial familiarity.

‘Tis a shock to look and see
A stranger staring back at me
In the mirror wondering
How could it be
That I don’t recognize the being
Reflecting the image before me?

Who is it that wonders,
Ponders, and conjures
Questions, interrogations,
Examinations and asks,

Who am I
Now, today?
Who is different from yesterday,
And just a few moments ago?

Isn’t that how life is anyway
We throw away
The we we were
Each and every night

Only to recreate, replicate
A clone
Who won’t make us feel alone
Like we know all too well
We have always been.

Or have we
Just been
Searching for that other?

Returning to our mothers
Or our fathers
Or our former shipmates
Who won’t make us wonder
If we really are all alone.

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