Paper for children is like a mirror
They see themselves in it
They make faces in it
They see things they wouldn’t otherwise see
They make it reflect
They hold it up to others
But through their years at school
The mirror is warped
The mirror is cracked
The mirror dissolves
Powerful message re writing and identity, Ross. ??
I ? the way the repetition in the first half emphasises the purity and promise of the empty page, with the children in control. The juxtaposition in the tone of the second half had me thinking of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, esp ‘The Schoolboy‘.
How did you feel during / after writing it?
On a separate note, your choice of image adds an extra layer of chill. ?
I wonder in this analogy of paper to mirrors, what the first moments of seeing themselves are. Like the moment babies recognise themselves in a real mirror – it takes a certain development tonrecognise yourself, and same here. You can’t just see yourself, but then suddenly you can and it’s powerful (before the warping/cracking/dissolving)
Hmm… got me thinking!!