Tanzaku. Imagining life without mirrors

Tilek Yrysbek

translated from Russian by Olga Mexina

Today my wife and I had a long conversation about mirrors.

And then we scribbled poems on a mirror.

And suddenly imagined life without mirrors.

“What if we, ourselves, became mirrors? Would we recognize each other?”

Unexpectedly, in the farthest room, we heard a mirror crack and scream.

Now there are no mirrors in our house.

Mirror 2

My wife and our cat were looking into a mirror,

But the cat couldn’t recognize herself.

Mirror 3

Without a mirror…

You would have no face,

No eyes,

No nose,

No lips,

No eyebrows,

No hair,

No ears,

And no teeth.

But – here is a mirror.

Me.