Dina Bogan – Landscape of the Soul

Artist Initiator: Dina Bogan
Title: Landscape of the Soul
Medium: Paint and Sharpie
Size: 20 x 20
NFS

Author Responder: Sarah Vickers
Title: Landscape of the Soul
NFS

Eliza lay on her mattress, an extra from the nurse’s office at her old school.  If she placed a marble on the floor next to her bed, it would roll quickly to the opposite corner. She was pleased with herself, that she thought to put her pillow in the highest place in the room, proof she was ready to live by herself, at her friend’s mother’s house.

She sprawled naked on a floral tapestry she bought at Value Village, and imagined the vines and flowers were real, twisting around her limbs, growing over her torso, holding her, tied to the earth, grounded. Last week, she considered buying a plant or at least picking some flowers from the park. Before her parents left, she lived in a yard of wildflowers: buttercups, daisies, forget-me-nots, her favorite. As a little girl, she’d run through the yard naked, the overgrown plants brushing her legs. 

But this was different. She was still now, and the plants were ones moving, twisting over her chest, holding her hips in place. She considered thorns, but decided against them, settling on ivy, except with purple flowers. Eliza wondered if this could be a permanent situation— ivy is notoriously hard to get rid of, after all

For a moment, she considered asking someone, maybe Jack from the park, to take a photo of the scene from above, so she could remember this feeling (and other reasons), but then someone else would see it. This was all hers.

Copyright © 2024 by Sarah Vickers