A haunting scene lifts and engulfs me...
Dull dark grey paving appears underfoot and in front I see
Stretching ahead directly,
Eyes lifting, I note (peripherally) sparsely intermittent barren trees swaying
And a new view as the path merges suddenly
interrupted by..
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| Strangely familiar in oils, 16 x 20 inches |
Brick
Contrasting starkly against the edge of now and the reason to be
Shallow (commercially suggestive) sprawling brown contained building
Which rises in the near distance conspicuously
Marking the future, that's somehow scheduled and beckoning me
The single storey
Building roof-line peaks and troughs as it breaks out jaggedly
Against a bleak moody sky
Eyes sweep across the horizon marking
Dark moderate undulating fields stretch out be sides
Measuring the distance between it and the low irregular railings surrounding
That can't pretend to keep out.
Stark towering flat blocks upon which windows form regular pocks
Circling around either side ominously
The breeze worries about and we hasten our steps inwards
Entering into a series of pent artificially bright corridors
Flanked by glass compartments of various size, blinking their wares in display
Streams of people encompass all sides
Unyielding flows this way
and that
Chatter and clatter rising, repeated comments splash from tv or crash out of somewhere or other,
"Yes t'day" an echoing tinkles as it waves through the air.
Stuttering paces through the herding crowd
I ask, "Do you know why we are we here?",
(Wondering which one of us is in tow).
Looking for some clue that could be on show
In amidst the throng someone collides and pushes past me
Time hangs in the air, like slowwwwed mo... ti... on....
While poised...
I watch someone's back as they move along hurriedly
Perhaps their gait, the shade/length/cut/wave of hair, build
or some thing combined suggests some one to me
I wonder, but they don't glance back, no apology prospect
I wonder if that's partly why they're moving away so swiftly
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| Poised in oils, 20 x 16 inches |
The crowd melees round,
Separating my focus and child while relentlessly urging me towards an (un)known direction
New senses - Alarm.
Wreathing unnoticed against the con fusion of pop u lace
bound irrevocably by it's interwoven indiscriminate disregard
This binding blind carriage denies me recourse.
Hooked by the horde and driven through the brilliant glazed halls of sales,
No glimpse of that I sought caught,
Brought to an entruance by a group persuaded to leave the current of movement by the savoury aromas emitted.
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| The Menu in oils, 16 x 20 inches |
I looked around purposefully - no evidence of my child in sight, but another exit potential to recover and reunite
Scanning the obstacle pockets of chairs and tables, about which people with food trays navigate unhurriedly and others enjoy meals noisily.
Alternate route and speedier remedy calculated the juxtaposition of the food counter / service area where orderly customers queued quietly
As I commenced upon this path, again I paused, having noticed somebody.
If I continued, I would pass in too close a proximity, past someone now quite alien to me.
Scarcely faltering I renegotiated, with increasing vigour, my way out.
Avoiding trays tipping, foot tripping, chairs left in discriminate disarray and the unwanted attention or notice of those passed.
Exhaling, at last, as I stepped out into (I sensed) a more open space.
Double glazed, 'chrome effect' painted, utility doors immediately to my left announced "Exit" with a rewarding view of the without doors that beyond them lay. Fresh air wafted through, sucked in along with new regurgitating arrivals.
A counter stream of jostling shoppers force me to wait momentarily, amongst them, I see, my unperturbed and treasured step into view.
Together we leave the building, as I hurriedly describe my closed encounter.
I urge towards the perimeter, attempting to guide past a welcoming restaurant - unsuccessfully.
Talked inside by a laconic admission laden with expectancy despite my fervent desire to quit the area a.s.a.p.
With little restraint I chivvy this single plate meal along.
As we depart, the warm flood of light spills out forming an arc to the foot step
Beyond creeps the pervasive gloom through which we accelerate.
At last we reach the boundary gate,
Street lights flickering into life break the developing darkness with solitary circled beams along the unkempt and deserted road, increasing the shadowed menace of the looming tower blocks which seem to unfold.
Somewhere in the desolate depths a dim distant gleam sputters the outline of the stairwell within and mutters opposite.
I don't remember crossing the street, but I'm glad I'm not alone as I stand in curious trepidation at the foot of the stairs exchanging questioning glances, "Was that a moan?".
Senses sharpening in the eerie enveloping breath filled darkness
Approaching the top of the flight I see, discernible by intensity, door-less rooms across the hallway
To my right the light sputters more brightly within the room, wherein stands a woman - outline illuminated, framed between the candle on the table beside her and the window she stands looking out at
She turns, unconcerned, with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes
Her hands hold out some object that crosses the distance between them
She walks towards the hallway, strange high steps,
A glow from the room across from the stairs distracts me
There's a bed, or some kind of sheeted platform, upon which is propped a square of canvas loosely stretched between four small (inch narrow) rough branches
Emitting an incandescent glow
Burning umber appears across the canvas
I gape in wonder as contorting facial contours materialise,
The effigy has motion
There's a cadenced background rustling rumble
But does it make sense?
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| High Steps in oils, 20 x 16 inches |
Maybe not but, if a burning self materialising effigy said something that sounded a lot like, "Train", "spot diggers", and possibly "Track", you'd probably wonder what they meant by that too.
