Familiar Stranger | Teen Ink

Familiar Stranger

November 6, 2009
By ERGrey SILVER, College Station, Texas
ERGrey SILVER, College Station, Texas
9 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If it is once again one against forty-eight, then I&#039;m very sorry for the forty-eight.&quot;- Margaret Thatcher<br /> &quot;Red meat isn&#039;t bad for you, fuzzy green meat is.&quot;<br /> &quot;Writers are the only adults who get to work in their pajamas and play with imaginary friends


Familiar stranger
Staring at me from the glass
Looking just like me but I don’t know her

She has my eyes
She has my face
She has the same expression as me
But I don’t recognize her

Familiar stranger
In the looking glass
Reflection or a different picture

She looks just like me
She’s a mirror image
Her eyes smile just like mine
But I don’t recognize her

Familiar stranger
Peeking up at me
Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m looking in a mirror anymore

Her face is mine
Her eyes are mine
The way she smiles is just like me
But I don’t recognize her

Familiar stranger
Staring back at me
I put my hand up and she copies

Her hand moves like mine
Her hand reaches out as I do
Her hand touches mine
But I don’t recognize her

Familiar stranger
In a room just like mine
Are there parallel worlds or is this girl really me?

I don’t recognize myself
I’ve become someone else
How do I go back to who I was?
Do I really want to?

Familiar stranger
Questions in her eyes
She tries to speak
But her words are mine

Familiar stranger
A person I see every day
Always unsure if it’s really me

Uncertainty and doubt
Flood my head
Every time I see her face
My face

Familiar stranger
A person I don’t recognize
Why do I not recognize myself?

Who have I become?
Who am I now?
Who is this person who stares at me in the mirror?

Have I changed that much?
Am I really that different?
Why didn’t I realize the changes before now?

Familiar stranger
My face, my eyes
My voice, my hand
My tears

The author's comments:
This poem was inspired by a book I had read. In the book, the main character looks in a mirror and doesn't recognize herself at all. So I took those feelings and expressed them in poetry form.

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This article has 1 comment.


nolava said...
on Nov. 26 2009 at 12:28 pm
Again ERGrey uses those short lines and repetition to share her mysterious queries. I believe she expresses very clearly a teen's emotional maturing, bewildered by the changes in herself as she does indeed change and grow. Good final line.