Shania, I Hardly Know You



You know you’re in trouble
when you live somewhere too 
small for Shania Twain’s tour
and worse, you don’t
get it ­ the arena sign says
Shania Twin, 2 Nights Only!
you rush out for tickets ­ find 
a girl who looks like Shania,
sounds like Shania,
but isn’t.

Chill out, you’re not the first
to be tricked by a twin, undone 
by misreading. Twin  
can carry a tune, & twinning
is an ancient, honoured 
profession. Like belly dancing.

Furthermore, real Shania 
shed her skin, too. Left behind
a sad girl named Eileen 
to lay a rose on her parents’ 
grave; to sing dumb songs 
dance dumb dances 
at the Huntsville resort 
in exchange for groceries & 

was reborn Shania  ­ 
Ojibwa for 
I’m on my way. And she was.

And the twin? Who was she, 
what former, tragedy-wrenched life 
did she live before she gazed
in the looking glass & saw the star
she resembled enough to begin
her career 
coming soon 
to a deluded arena near you.