Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mirror Image

The mirror is not an image.
The image is not a mirror.



The mirror reflects, the image remembers.

The mirror observes, the image obscures.

The mirror demands, the image denies.

The mirror inverts, the image intends.



The image interprets, the mirror infers.

The image betrays, the mirror is faithful.

The image questions, the mirror answers.

The image generalizes, the mirror specifies.



The image mirrors more than mirror imagines.



Mirror image.

The age of Mirrorrim, prophet of opposites.



The image is always
the mirror is only.

The mirror is many
the image is one.

8 comments:

Cheshire Cat said...

I hope Mirrorrim will finally put an end to the cult (and yes, ye "faithful", I dare to call it a cult!) of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

You surely know this, but for those who don't, one of Plath's better poems: Mirror

Falstaff said...

cat: yes, he's so much more interesting than FSM no? Such a nice Tolkienish name. And a demonstrable ability to see things from both sides.

Ah, Mirror. Though to be honest, the poem I was thinking of when I wrote this was Graves' Broken Images.

Space Bar said...

The Messiahs of the Mirrorrim. They live life on the fine edge of indecision. Alternatively, they cannot resist playing the Devil's Advocate. How you view them depends on your perspective, I guess.

km said...

Just curious, and pardon this most silly question, but why the italicized words in the last two lines?

//I thought Mirrorrim was a sleepy fishing village near Goa.

Anonymous said...

very nice

this may be blasphemy, but the last line should be ...

The mirror is one
the image is many.

imo, anyhow

Anonymous said...

I second anon. mirror can reflect anything/anyone.

m.

Falstaff said...

sb: Yes, exactly. Though, of course, critics have accused them of being two-faced.

km: No reason really. Just.

m: But that's exactly why the image is one and the mirror many - the mirror can be a million faces - it may be honest, but has no integrity. The image, on the other hand, is always the same.

anon: see above. Though of course, alternative, even inverted, viewpoints are the point of this post.

Anonymous said...

:) yep. and that almost abnormal desire for change. love your poem.

m.