This is Me

[mlund]

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack.
Her curves were in the wrong places
and her voice came out in rasps.
She avoided every surface
made of glass, and people too.
Anything that reflected
what she thought she really knew.
But one day as she stood
on the edge of a river, calm
Her eyes flowed like streams
and her hands shook like palms
As she suddenly caught a glimpse
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos
and said, "This is Me".

[dukealien]

1. Every strand of her hair was out of place
   
2. and she stepped on every crack.
   
3. Her curves were in the wrong places
   
4. and her voice came out in rasps.
   
5. She avoided every surface
   
6. made of glass, and people too.
   
7. Anything that reflected
   
8. what she thought she really knew.
   
9. But one day as she stood
   
10. on the edge of a river, calm
    
11. Her eyes flowed like streams
    
12. and her hands shook like palms
    
13. As she suddenly caught a glimpse
    
14. of what she never dared to see;
    
15. A beautiful shard of chaos
    
16. and said, "This is Me".
    

An interesting concept.  Before getting into details, two general critiques:  First, the title - although it's from the closing line - confuses me a bit.  I expect a sort of confession or self-analysis by the writer, which (unless that convolution is intended) the poem is not.  Second, I look in vain for background:  what circumstance resulted in the character thinking her appearance was other than beautiful, so that she shunned her reflection?  It's not *necessary* for the story, but just a hint of backstory would be nice, IMHO.

In detail, there's a better poem in there, not necessarily with fewer lines (backstory, see above) but - it seems to me - with a lot fewer words.  Rewriting with brevity in mind would also remove cliche and cliche-like passages.  For example,

LL1-2, (example) "Every strand of hair disordered/Her small feet trod every crack" (though L2 doesn't fit the themes of her supposed appearance or actual avoidance-behavior)

LL3-4, (example) "Her curves were wrongly placed/Her voice a rasp." 

LL5-7, seek "ands" to eliminate, and less common words than "Anything."

L8 - fewer words, or this could be a good place for a glimpse of backstory.

L10 - you mean a glassy river; "calm" isn't quite the word, IMHO, and becomes tangled with her tearful mental state.

L11 - "Her eyes streamed," perhaps?

L12 - an unfortunate simile approaching pun (palms of hands) - "Her hands quaked like palm fronds?"

LL13-14 - need a better word than "suddenly," stressing surprise and accident.

L15 - I lean toward "beauteous" or "lovely" in place of "beautiful," just for the sound.  A word implying gleam or glitter, perhaps?

L16 - could replace "said" with "murmured," but I'm a fool for iambs.

Hope the above is not too harsh - it's a likeable story and could be quite engaging with some streamlining and a bit more novelty.

Concluding note:  Some will object to capitalizing every line start, particularly for free verse.  I do not.

[QDeathstar]

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack.
Her curves were in the wrong places
and her voice came out in rasps.
She avoided every surface
made of glass, and people too. //This line is strange. the stop on the comma breaks up the flow, and when I read it I thought "and people too" what????
Anything that reflected
what she thought she really knew. /these two lines don't make a sentence
But one day as she stood
on the edge of a river, calm //calm is a forced rhyme might work better with a period but, I doubt you speak that way puting the adverb in the rear.
Her eyes flowed like streams
and her hands shook like palms //I think of palms as being on a beach, not a river
As she suddenly caught a glimpse
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos
and said, "This is Me". //I'm pretty sure that the rythm broke here, though I'm pretty bad a the whole rythm thing so I might be wrong...

[nikkisto]

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack.            - Solid opening line, immediate sense of theme.
Her curves were in the wrong places      -This is nit picking, but the repetition of 'place' snags me. I wonder if reworking line one would eliminate a cliche
and her voice came out in rasps.             and help bypass this.
She avoided every surface
made of glass, and people too.
Anything that reflected
what she thought she really knew.      -What does she know? Here's a chance to take it past her outward appearance/presentation
But one day as she stood
on the edge of a river, calm
Her eyes flowed like streams        
and her hands shook like palms
As she suddenly caught a glimpse
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos             
and said, "This is Me".

There's room to edit this down to increase the emphasis on your theme. I read this as being about more than just appearance, it's mentioned in the line 'beautiful shard of chaos', this is something that could be solidified (and expanded on maybe?) a little earlier. I like what you did with 'every surface made of glass, and people too.' Nice!

[Achebe]

Hi - I think you'll need to work on explaining the transformation / transition in the last strophe. Doesn't come across as convincing as it stands.

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack. I am not sure what this means.
Her curves were in the wrong places
and her voice came out in rasps.  I think you'd do better by dropping this line. This is the only place in the poem where you are talking about sound rather than sight, and it comes across as an attempt to slant rhyme with 'cracks'

She avoided every surface one too many 'every's
made of glass, and people too. 'people made of glass?' is a momentarily distracting thought
Anything that reflected
what she thought she really knew. People don't reflect, in the literal sense. So best to remove 'people too' in the lines above. Also, a repetition on the 'avoid every glass' theme, doesn't add value.
But one day as she stood
on the edge of a river, calm it's only in poems that you can look at your reflection standing 'on the edge of a river'. not only does the water have to be remarkably calm, you'd need to bend over to see your own reflection. unrealistic.
Her eyes flowed like streams 
and her hands shook like palms
As she suddenly caught a glimpse
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos nice line
and said, "This is Me".  the rationale for the transformation in her head isn't explained

[ephemerald]

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack.    
Her curves were in the wrong places  - Consider reworking this line to eliminate the repetition of "place."    
and her voice came out in rasps.        
She avoided every surface
made of glass, and people too.           -  This needs some work, but I like the thought (whether intended or not) of people being one of these reflective
Anything that reflected                           surfaces for her.  Is there another way to say that though?  ie. "Made of faces, made of glass."  Having "glass" end
what she thought she really knew.          that line gives it more flow.

                                                        - You could break the poem here into two separate stanzas to give it more space and breadth as well as to, in format,
But one day as she stood                    separate the build up from the conclusion.
on the edge of a river, calm              - Comma not needed
Her eyes flowed like streams
and her hands shook like palms
As she suddenly caught a glimpse     - Remove "as" (it was already used above; repetition of it confuses flow).
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos
and said, "This is Me".

[helenalovern@gmail.com]

Every strand of her hair was out of place
and she stepped on every crack.                     
Her curves were in the wrong places
and her voice came out in rasps.             
She avoided every surface
made of glass, and people too.              painting a picture of a self conscious woman who strides carefully
Anything that reflected
what she thought she really knew.                 
But one day as she stood
on the edge of a river, calm
Her eyes flowed like streams
and her hands shook like palms             trees... or...?
As she suddenly caught a glimpse
of what she never dared to see;
A beautiful shard of chaos                     instead of chaos, put yourself in the poem. find a "something metaphorical" literal object in that stream that 
and said, "This is Me".                                 you can relate to this poem. there are things i could say, but this is Your writing and i feel you can find the inspiration within yourself. otherwise beautiful poem about a damaged woman accepting who she is.  <3