Yellow, by Ann Gibson

Corridor in the Asylum, by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands), 1889.

Yellow​

Colour of sun-soaked sandstone,
glaring nightmare of high arches,
labyrinthine passages
back and forth, to and fro,
no escape.
 
Colour of confusion,
tip-tap of following footfall
ebb and flow,
impossible to pin down
in the echo.
 
Colour of anxiety,
cold sweat of fear,
exposed by bare corridors,
no quiet corner
to cower in.
 
Colour of cowardice;
not a choice here,
no holes to hide in,
tremor of terror,
even a hero would run.

Ann Gibson

Ann Gibson spent her childhood in Dublin and now lives in North Yorkshire.  She has always been an avid reader and has, more recently, learned to enjoy writing and playing with words.  She combined these interests when she completed a part-time MA in Literature Studies at St. John’s University in York.  She has published poetry in Acumen, Prole, Orbis and Ariadne’s Thread, as well as Leaf, Blinking Eye, Biscuit, Chuffed Buff Books, and other anthologies. More recently her poetry has appeared online in Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Pulsar and Ofi Press Magazine.