Ekphrasis, Writing from other art forms

Hi,

Here is another example of Ekphrasis, done in a writing group I am now involved in.

Hope you like it, and the piece of art it is relating to is Corridor of an Asylum.

I was stood at the bottom of the stairs looking down at the long corridor. The walls were orange and blue paint, it was starting to chip and flake off the wall, was the colour to aid in recovery I silently wondered to myself. The floor had several cracks in but we were told that it was safe, the floor that is, the rest of the hospital was not so safe, the building was slowly falling apart.

The building was purpose-built back in the late 1900’s, but after a cure for TB was fount it was turned into a home for those with server mental issues but it was closed in the sixties after a scandal that had involved one of the doctors and unsanctioned medical practices and several death’s at the same doctors hand.

I stand her looking on while we are looking for a child, the silly, childish innocent boy had gone missing and this was the last place we had to search. We knew this place was structurally dangerous, there was also a lot of old medical equipment lying around for him to hurt himself on.

I froze, gripped by something, something cold. I couldn’t move, I was frozen in place, rooted in place. The search continued around me while I tried to move, I screamed internally, no one could hear me, the scream would no come out, and no one could hear my pain as the cold, lifeless hands that were wrapped around my ankles and held me in place, out of flux with everyone around me.

I suddenly became aware of the dead and of the ghosts of those who died within the paint flecked walls, they all, every single one of them staring at me. I felt helpless, I couldn’t move, I saw a man, my father, carrying the child, my son, into corridor into plain view and as he left the hospital he walked right through me.

Everyone left, except me. I couldn’t, the cold hands held me in place wanting to keep me in place, watching the dead. Not letting me leave, not letting me move.

Let me know what you think guys, there is more going to be more coming soon but I’ll let you digest this one first.

Stay Tuned

Simone