SurVision Magazine

In the Land of Failed Personas


What's in a mirror is what we see.
And what's behind is what we don't.
So that what we have when turned about
is ourselves seen inside-out, a ghastly Thing.
Like Alice in Wonderland, among all these Others,
who start explaining themselves frantically,
their wives, friends and mothers,
as if there weren't enough time.

Their mad hatter patter
endangers such fragile protuberances
as break free quite brittle to shatter
in the turbulence of normal conversation
into shards of glistening spittle,
and extruded yearning.








Carl Nelson lives near Ohio River town and runs the Serenity Poetry Series across the river in Vienna, WV. He is a graduate of the University of Washington's year long Certificate Program in Playwriting. His writings have appeared in Atlanta Review, Mind in Motion, Paper Salad, and The Iconoclast.