Window shopping with the familiar stranger

Like a stranger
who shows you a little kindness,
the chess master of Täby strolls with you
amongst the mannen
in a tournament where every game
is one too many,
and the only name allowed
is Cartaphilus.

But as you walk
through the granite burg—
never sure
if the next cross street you turn onto
is a boulevard or a cul-de-sac,
yet feeling compelled to step forward,
even when in zugzwang
you realise you’ve missed
the difference between a shop window
and a mirror.


More words to ponder at maciejmodzelewski.com

In a wilderness of mirrors

It is truly baffling how easily we forgive a young, beautiful woman pretty much anything.
No matter how you look at it, it is unfair to her less appealing sisters that she can get away
even with a ridiculous hat that looks like a lampshade as long as she asks with an innocent
smile, So how do I look? And you can never be sure what, in her opinion, constitutes cute
or gross, for that matter, until you realise that in all her splendour she has also got nothing
but a crooked mirror.