Pyramid of Skulls

April sunshine has given me the courage to take on the challenge of writing Ekphrastic poems. I have never attempted to translate the emotion from paintings, drawings, sculptures, or other visual works of art into words. The challenge will require me to dig deep to tap into the passions such works of art create inside a person. Most of what I write will be speculative. There will be times when I will place myself into the mind of the artist. Still other times, I will express the emotions I experience gazing at the work of art. If I get creative, I might even tell the story from an element within the artwork. This Ekphrastic poem is based on a painting by Paul Cezanne entitled Pyramid of Skulls.

Pyramid of Skulls

I could have painted flowers.

In a sparkling crystal vase.

Maybe princes in ivory towers,

With beauty and stylish grace.

Or landscapes by the dozen,

I managed to painted a few.

Turn my brush on my cousin,

And paint her in shades of blue.

The skulls spoke to my own mortality,

We will all eventually turn into dust and bone.

The grave our final home will be.

We came into this world and will leave it alone.

So I arranged the skulls into a pyramid,

I left out the goo and the grime.

Never once did I became dispirited,

In fact, I think I was ahead of my time.

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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