[Roger Slater]

This feels a bit padded out to me. Phrases like "languish and wither," for example. Does "languish" really add anything but a metrical beat? Why not just "wither"? And "at myself" is also surplus, since we already know that we see ourselves when we look in the mirror.

I see there's been a fair amount of discussion about your metrical choices, but the only real problem with the meter I'm seeing is padding.

Here's a version minus the padding. While I was at it, I couldn't resist a possible punctuation shift in the last two lines:

I try not to look in the mirror,
the face that I don’t recognise.
The hopes that I had for it wither.
I try not to look in the mirror.
And this is my vanity. Cracks wanting filler
I'd rather ignore than revise.
I try not to look. In the mirror,
that face. I can’t meet its eyes.



PS--It occurs to me that when looking in the mirror, a person always meets his own eyes. It's a simple physical reality. You can't not look yourself in the eye. In your poem, I'm not sure if you can get away with only the metaphorical meaning of not being able to look someone in the eye when the physical reality is to the contrary.