The Allegory of the Mirror
Or
My Dog Does Not Read Plato
by Catherine Essinger

I leaned a mirror against the wall and for two weeks
we had twice as many cats and dogs,
knees and feet.

The cat, adept at avoiding controversy, slipped
between the wall and the mirror frame, reducing
her worries by half,

but the dog, too big for such an out-of-body
experience, simply hurried past, tail low,
ears flattened.

No epiphanies for her, no moments of self
awareness, no desire to see herself as another.
She does not fret

over her mother’s eyebrows, her father’s sturdy snout,
or regret last night’s stolen pork chop, the bowl
she licked too clean.

She has never been nagged by doubt, or trusted shadows
on the wall of the cave. By the time I hang the mirror
I have almost forgotten

what I wanted to see. Reason tells me the mirror is true,
but where is the proof of the mirror’s reply?
Who can step beyond

to check the mechanism and its validity? All my dog knows
is that the mirror lies, and I have no reason
to think otherwise.

from My Dog Does Not Read Plato. 2004
http://www.mainstreetrag.com/CEssinger.html