The Child in the Corner

As you can see, the child sits in the corner of what used to be the park. He is in what used to be the park to play. He sits on the ground. He is on his own. The only thing he has to play with is what used to be the park.

As you can feel, the child touches the soil. He lifts the granules of the soil. He sifts the granules through his fingers. The granules feel like bits of a mother's skin that have been rolled up and left in the ground. He lets the granules fall back to the ground. Some of the soil is sticking to his fingers.

As you can smell, the child smells the fern leaf. He has broken off the fern leaf and picked it up. He breathes in through the fern leaf. The fern leaf smells like the vegetables that went sour in the field that time.

As you can taste, the child eats one of his sandwiches. He tastes the cheese in the sandwich. The cheese is going runny in the sun. The cheese is like clay walls turning to mud in his mouth. He tastes the salt in the cheese. He tastes the bread. He tastes the salt in the bread. The bread tastes like sweat on a stranger's hand.

As you can hear, the child hears the wood-beetles in the trees. The wood-beetles are far away. The wood-beetles are invisible. He hears the wood-beetles. The wood-beetles are making a noise to him, but they are not talking to him.

As you can see, the child stands up. He urinates against the tree that is near him. He sees the curve of urine. The curve of urine is like a rainbow when yellow is the only colour allowed. As you can smell, he smells the urine. It smells like the animal skins that used to dry in the sun when every colour in the light was allowed. As you can hear, he listens to the urine. It crackles on the leaves on the ground at the bottom of the tree. He sits down. As you can feel, he feels the ground against him. He feels the pebbles. The pebbles are like small bricks from a wall scattered on the ground.

As you can see, the child picks up a flower. He looks at the yellow petals. He sees the way the petals don't quite lie flat. He sees the way the petals don't quite match. They are like lots of small bones that have not healed quite right.

As you can see, the shadows are getting shorter.

As you can feel, the sun is getting hotter. He touches the sweat on his forehead and it feels like thick rain.

As you can see, the child looks at the branch of one of the trees. The branch of the tree is thin and straight and looks like the long part of a rifle.

As you can see, the shadows are getting longer.

As you can feel, the sun is getting cooler.

As you can hear, the grasshoppers are talking to the child. The child listens. The grasshoppers are whispering with the dryness of their wings. The grasshoppers are telling him that nobody is alone.

As you can smell, the child sniffs the flower in his hand. It smells like the scent on a stranger.

As you can see, the child has picked up a small snake. The snake is red and green. The snake is smiling. Its fangs catch the yellow light. As you can feel, the child touches its roughness. Its roughness is like the uniform in the wardrobe. The child releases the snake. As you can hear, the snake doesn't hiss. It makes a crackling noise over the dry leaves then is silent sliding over the leaves wet with urine at the bottom of the tree before it disappears.

As you can taste, the child licks the soil from his fingers. He tastes the soil. The soil tastes of salt and sugar and flour. The soil tastes like it ought to be baked for bread for the insects.

As you can feel, the child has pushed the fern leaf to his face. He feels the itching of it. The itching of it is like the gas he was told about that time. He doesn't know the gas. The gas is trapped inside the leaves of the fern so it can't get out. The itch in the fern goes into different parts of his face as the wind blows. He lets go of the fern and watches it blow away on the wind.

As you can see, the child is still in the corner of what used to be the park. He sits in the corner. What used to be the park is getting darker around him. He sits in what used to be the park. He sees the darkening. He still sits there.