Blog Post about The Pink Institution

A few weeks ago, in class, we talked about the poem that opens the novel, The Pink Institution, and we discussed how it sets up the tone for the novel. I am currently working on a short story called Grandma in the Attic, in which the protagonist, Karen, learns after her Grandmother dies that her grandmother may have killed someone years earlier. Even though the story is told in the third person, it is all from Karen's perspective. In my earlier drafts, I kept Karen too distant from the reader and she comes across as simply revealing facts.

For this reason, I am working on developing Karen's character more. I thought a fun exercise would be to develop a poem, like the one that opens The Pink Institution, in order to explore Karen's feelings about what is going on to help me incorporate more of Karen's personality into the story. In The Pink Institution  fashion, it jumps around to seemingly random ideas and leaves out words. What do you get from the poem?

Light -less corridor

            Torches burning out

Magnifying glass lying in the-

            Oak tree in June

Losing its lush, green leaves

Where? How?

            Question marks floating in ice

    Grandma’s iced tea.