The Man and the Flower

Writing Challenge 1: Words: Flower, Phenomena, Fashionable, Easier, Possession, Hallucination Theme: Madness

Stumbling footsteps graced the earth,

Contorting the shrubbery under their weight,

Twisting the roots in their shallow graves.

All things ruined and changed,

Bar a single flower.

He plucks it from its sheath,

Reveling in the intricate swirls on its petals.

 

He falls back onto the sodden ground,

Marveling in the phenomena before him.

The single intricate flower,

That survived his onslaught of steps.

 

‘I ought to place it by my ear’

He giggled to himself.

‘Or perhaps on my lapel’

He retorted to himself.

‘Either would be fashionable’

He replied. To himself.

 

He lay back on the bed of leaves,

Captured in the beauty of the petals.

Knowing full well he ought to stand,

Ought to remove himself from the floor,

But deciding it easier,

Simpler even,

To just lay there.

A single flower in his hand,

His worldly possession,

His only ownership.

 

The nurse pulls him from the floor,

Removing the toothpick from his fingers,

And leading him to the bed.

He feels the leaves fall from his back,

Leaving the wet outlines on his vest.

 

‘Our final concern for your father’

The doctor said to the woman before him,

‘Is his persistent hallucination…’

Reviews

[King of the North (but ..]

A very good insight into the mind. Where on the outside, people see a man hallucinating for 5, maybe ten seconds tops, and comes to such a basic conclusions. Whereas on the inside he had such a fascinating interior monologue going on... Sometimes madness can be quite misunderstood. This is a really great point of view to follow as a reader

[alanwgraham]

Oh dear! Your writing encompasses some very deep questions that I have been thinking about recently such as our experience of reality, the nature of dreams and so on. Not with much success! The way you have described the hallucination of the man with the flower rings very true. The final few lines pull us back to the horrible reality. My own experience is that I went through most of my life thinking that i knew who i was and then a brief experience of mania and then of paranoia turned all that on its head. Know i haven't a clue who i am but these experiences have definately made me more inquisitive. Great writing.
Would you like to have a look at my story 'The Nemesis within' -I'm interested in whether you think this scenario rings true psychologicaly.
Thanks,
Alan