Mirrors I Trust by Andjela Starcevic (16, North Carolina)

Tell this beauty to keep my secrets
Tell this beauty to save my mind
See this mirror nurture corrosion
And watch it pull me behind

Tell this light that it is blind
So am I
The antebellum kind

Cheap long lace and ornate cotton rags
Why must you harass this hag
Wasps whir in my eyes and ears
This hollow heart makes seconds years

A molding mind will keep to corrode
Hands burned in half damp gold
Imprisoned in godly skin
A wealthy fool
Love spits on this moon soaked ghoul

Railroads traverse dry autumn lips
Gnawing on the sun like a starving twig
Palms claw at dusted hips
Eyes forsake my greatest wish

Bejeweled skies shriek at
Ornate cotton rags and lace quite cheap
This beauty is a terror
When the ray becomes the burn
Will we ever really weep