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i.
Scratching out the face 
in a mirror. My face 
in the mirror scratches me 
out, warns of noxious substances,
before I beg to differ 
with the reflection’s plan 
to reveal what a camera eye shows:
the lie that does not exist.



ii.
Restore me—mimic a blur 
without motion
like the invisible fluidity 
of The Mozart Effect on plants
& animals that turn into 
airy nothingness
like the final flap 
of one’s alveoli
before death’s well-spaced 
assemblage.