Paintbrush
“Noooooooooooo, put me down, put me down !!!”
Swinging wildly, with whip lashing strokes slicing through the air, I was hurriedly carried forth, without sympathy I might add, to what I could only describe as my impending execution. It appears that my long narrow stick-like appearance does me no favours. Clasped tightly with enthusiastic intentions, this monstrous apparatus grew larger with each glimpse gifted at the arc of pivotal swing. These elliptical metallic disks lie in wait for my thunderous arrival. My screams for mercy and understanding over this damning misjudgement of function …unheard or just ignored. Youth, it appears, ignorant of respect for proper usage of tools or instruments. No more am I treated with grace in movement. No more am I guided in playful harmony of colour. My once colourful punk –style hair now worn, dishevelled and casting.
“Thump!!….wham !!....crash!!
Such was the force of each impact , each bristle of hair….not just cast, but exploding into this atmosphere full of unintelligible din. With speed and uncanny accuracy, each blow delivering a repetitive experience of sound and pain, reverberating throughout my current existence. Is this music ? Once again I yearn to be caressed, to be held with care and sensitivity……. to be allowed to make gentle meaningful and colourful strokes. My freedom is my creativity. Now though, the strain is unbearable as my integrity rests in these unfamiliar hands.
“Crack!!!!!”
“Noooooooooooooooo!!!!”
Erratically spinning and tossing…..a duet ! No more beating or thunderous sound ringing all around. Only silence gives way to this rattling as we both roll gently to our end. Split in two now no more to grace my canvas. I’m just a large splinter now with heart and soul parted….left to rot in this little box, cuddled by those for whom a similar fate awaits.
Paul Gallagher Dec. 09
The Whispering Shadows
Beads of sweat scurried horizontally from each temple occasionally leaping from facial skin and glancing off the rim of each ear…disappearing into the darkness. I glided with speed, each leap….into unknown spaces, with my chest thrusting outward and my legs seemingly struggling to keep up. This air hurriedly cooling and causing misty bursts from each exhaling breath…this combined with near exhaustion , my lungs fumed with over exertion. As I gradually succumbed to this darkened place and it’s indigenous creatures, all around me smothered my feeble efforts to escape. Now the density of this darkness clings to my body, grinding me to almost a halt. The slackening of speed allowed the shivers to grow and crawl my spine, resting on the tethering hairs of my neck. Those haunting voices resonating more and more, louder, closer, gaining on my weakness now. I’ve come to the end, yet so far I could go. Electrical pulses in my brain are losing their spark, almost causing a complete physical and mental breakdown. I fell to my knees, sliding forward on this midnight dew , and I quickly spun my body around propping my back against the coldness of this eroded stone, but not yet raising my glance upwards for fear of what I might see. The wind, though howling at a distance and inviting leaves to dance in the light of the moon, reduced to whispers, in the presence and in anticipation of what these huge obelisks , looking like skyscrapers from hell, were about to do to this intruder. This gathering above, snarling down on me, each with the intention of delivering a fatal blow. Their shadows, each etching their way across every available surface and turning to crumbled dust all before them. These shadows eerily manipulated the whispers of the wind, whilst smothering dappled moonlight trying to break through the trees above. My heart now thumping with fear…… fear of what these eroding obelisks and their shadows are, and what they will do.
Paul Gallagher Dec 09
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