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by Nichole McElhaney

i think of the years i spent 
scrubbing dirty mirrors,
changing my reflection like
a chameleon
who can't get the image right
because everything is a pale imitation
of something better;
and my heart aches for that
chameleon-girl
- that shape shifter -
because no one ever told her
she was beautiful
just the way she was.

Nichole McElhaney is a poetess whose work is heavily influenced by mythology, witchcraft, love, loss, female empowerment, and her peculiar obsession with melancholy.