Not Just Dust

© Ayr/Gray

The Unicorn Challenge.

A magical new weekly writing opportunity from him – C. E. Ayr – and me.
The rules are

Maximum of 250 words.
Inspired by photo prompt.
That’s it.

Click here to read other stories from the prompt: 28/06/24

Not Just Dust

‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,’ said Oscar Wilde.
And he knew a thing or two, did Oscar.
Take that photo of two lines of dust being threatened by a blue broom.
Or is it the dust that’s threatening the broom?
Hm.
I’m sure a grant could be obtained by some student eager to prolong his/her/their academic life.
A learned thesis could be written and it, in turn, could become a receptacle for yet more dust on the shelves of some dark, fusty university library.

But let’s get back to Mr Wilde and Aristotelian mimesis.
Ha, I’ll bet you weren’t expecting that.
To be honest, neither was I, but there you are.
It’s amazing what you discover when you have no ideas for a story.
In fact, the great man’s position – that’s Oscar’s, not Aristotle’s – was one of anti-mimesis.
Aristotle was more for art imitating life.

You might wonder where I’m going with this – and that makes two of us.
But moving on, let’s look at the artwork itself; the dust and the broom.
And here I have to come down heavily in favour of the great Mr Wilde.
You see, I’m flitting* this weekend, and piles of dust and brooms loom large in my life.
Oscar Wilde holds ‘that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise (this).’
As a result, I look anew at my little piles of dust – and marvel.

* a Scots word meaning ‘moving house’