The cutting edge
on Sheila Ash (India), 20/May/2014 01:16, 34 days ago
For this week’s exercise for my Creative Writing class our tutor came with a selection of scientific photographs. He used only the more abstract ones from his vast collection. I did recognise some – the surface of a plant, a fungal spore – so picked one I did not know.I only had my mobile phone with me so the resultant photograph is not too good, reflecting the library overhead lights, but hopefully good enough that you get the gist.The brief for our writing was to think differently, almost like a Martian would. I didn’t take the visitor from outer space theme too literally but here is my effort.At the bottom of the post I will tell you what it actually is and post a better picture. The cutting edgeThis is a strange place. Directionally confused, every which  way I look it is the same. The madness of regularity, row after row, pattern repeat after pattern repeat, 2 this way, 2 that, 2 up, 2 down, packed tight pointed roofs, a log pile of stacked boxes. Moving over them I slip down onto their crevasses and am grazed by their edges. I loose my footing and end up looking upward like a Kaffir on a bed of nails. Held fast. The walls encroach at a slow, steady, unrelenting pace. They nudge onwards, ever closer the advancing army of swords pointed towards me, their prey. The double edge serrations bite deeper, shredding my soul. The machine annihilates all in its path. I am but dust. In reality the picture is of anAnechoic Chamber- Ananechoic chamber(an-echoic meaning non-reflective, non-echoing or echo-free) is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also insulated from exterior sources of noise. The combination of both aspects means they simulate a quiet open-space of infinite dimension, which is useful when exterior influences would otherwise give false results. You can see lots of better exampleshereashramblingsashramblings