Perhaps there really are people who can see themselves in mirrors; I know I can’t, no matter how I try, no matter how many times I’ve looked at that big mirror in the bathroom and smiled, or frowned, or waved my arms frantically – there’s still nothing but the wall behind me. We’re taught about mirrors from a very early age – see, Junior? That’s your face! And I look and I look and there’s nothing. I’m not there. So I ask Dad if he can see himself in the mirror and he looks away and … [Read more...]
“Not Me!” / Memorable Fancies #671
18 August, 2016 by Leave a Comment
[“The mirror is not the place to observe yourself.” – Henri Michaux] I looked in a mirror. Suddenly I realized that what I saw there wasn’t me. Not just “not me,” but not even the image of me. The mirror showed someone else, or someone who might have been me but never was, or someone I thought I’d outgrown, outlived. I returned the mirror to Wal-Mart. They gave me my illusions back. [Click ‘Random Post’ above – be astonished] … [Read more...]
“Fairest of Them All” / Memorable Fancies #667
29 March, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I start again with “...who is the fairest...” and the mirror says “O God not that ‘fairest’ crap again, you egotistical bitch!” But I persist with “of them all,” and the mirror says “all what?” I know it’s just being intentionally dense here; it knows exactly what “all” means: all those things I’m more beautiful than. The face in the mirror wrinkles as the mirror-glass contracts, buckles. “See?” the mirror says, “this is you in ten years. You are much fairer than that. For now.” … [Read more...]
“The Distraction” / Memorable Fancies #1491
9 March, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I taped today’s newspaper comics page on the wall opposite my bathroom mirror. A distraction – something for it to think about instead of me – instead of making me look older every day. <END> Buy it at amazon.com/author/terencekuch: Try Try Again – A novel of deadly U.S. political intrigue from Ashton Publishing Group (Australia). … [Read more...]
“Upon Reflection,…” / Memorable Fancies #1453
29 January, 2016 by Leave a Comment
[“The mirror is not the place to observe yourself.” – Henri Michaux] The mirrors have conspired to show us not ourselves, but strangers. Deep inside our minds, we all know that. <END> Buy it at amazon.com/author/terencekuch: For Anacreon, 30 poems of love and life from the ancient Greek poet (originally published as a chapbook by Silkworms Ink). … [Read more...]
“This Time, The Hammer” / Memorable Fancies #1356
24 October, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In the house, the Andersons’ mirrors are showing strange images. Herbert’s wife doesn’t see anything wrong. Herbert tries to warn the authorities that his wife must be part of an insidious plot. No more politeness; this time, the hammer. [A story line from my collection The Trees of Malice: 16 tales of horror and the weird too creepy to share. Buy it on Amazon.] … [Read more...]
“Seven Years … Seven Years” / Memorable Fancies #1344
12 October, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Convicted of having broken a mirror, Harvey is sentenced to seven years of bad luck. But he hadn’t broken it – he was framed by a rival. It takes Harvey seven years to prove his innocence, owing to a run of bad luck in the court system. <END> Buy it at amazon.com/author/terencekuch: See/Saw. In this novel from Ink Smith Publishing, you can sell your memories for cash. And regret it. … [Read more...]
“Consolation” / Memorable Fancies #1319
11 September, 2015 by Leave a Comment
[“I am talking to my likeness: an uneasiness fills the room.” -- Georges Bataille] I speak into a mirror. Owing to the tiny fraction of a second it takes for my image to return to my eyes, I know it will have been copying me, not I copying it. That is some consolation... <END> Buy it at amazon.com/author/terencekuch: Pictures of the Invisible, a fiction sampler. … [Read more...]
“Who Are You?” / Memorable Fancies #1271
25 July, 2015 by Leave a Comment
[“...I can see you / repeating my gestures / my words...” – Roberto Bolaño] I caught you attempting to be me, one day, in front of a mirror. You had my gestures, my voice, down pat. Even the look on your face when you turned around and saw me – that was my look, too, caught in the same mirror. As I turned around, I saw you. Me. <END> (The writer, reading at One More Page Books, Arlington, Virginia) … [Read more...]
“Whose Face? ” / Memorable Fancies #1199
13 May, 2015 by Leave a Comment
[“...my own face / entering and leaving the mirror.” – Roberto Bolaño] Yesterday I saw my mother’s face in the mirror. “Surprise,” she said, standing behind me, “bet you didn’t know I was here.” “No,” I said, “I didn’t know you were standing behind me until I saw your face in the mirror – and didn’t see my own.” <END> The photographer is showing photos of people he took in an African village. They believe, he smirks, that taking pictures of people is evil, and the … [Read more...]
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