LIFE MAP - (follow up)

My map of grass and trees was rolling down the paper easy and smooth. It sounded like Chet Baker playing the trumpet and looked florescent green. I was rolling down myself, remembering and living it at the same time.

All my trees have always been tall and strong and beautiful. The first one was dark green and had no end to it. It joined directly the blue sky of my childhood: a long ladder to climb up to the clouds, sit there and have tea with my friends. The sun was beating up the tortoise's shell, hot like iron. There was nowhere for 'Pierina' to escape, except a hole in the ground or one in between the brick walls.

Pierina liked lettuce and tomatoes but also peaches. She disliked apples and dry bread but was fond of pizzas. Pierina had a nice napkin around her neck so that from the top of the tree I could still see her. She got lost once, in our understanding that is; or she disappeared, in her understanding that is. If she did that on purpose or not it is not for us to know. Tortoises have simple minds that can be very complicated at times. They follow their own logic, which is: food, sleep and shelter. But they also like being tickled over the shell; having their head and chin stroked. Not a clever move for those who lived during the French Revolution. Tortoises travel very slowly when you're looking at them, but if you decide to turn around for a second they will disappear in a flash. And it's no use looking for them because they are gone for good; a bit like men that is.

Comments

Musings on a Sunny Day

I write for a fairly successful blog. Not in term of numbers or followers, but in terms of content: a well-written and balanced page of writing. The blog is composed of 2 fiction writers and a poet, it has a good variety of topics that might interest fellow writers and readers in equal measure. But lately I’ve felt the need to go solo. I cannot emphasize enough the feeling of freedom that writing anonymously gives you. Not knowing who is going to read you, not being judged by the people you know. A desire for invisibility, or just freedom. Not expecting anything back. The list goes on, not to mention other unpleasant side effects of working with others. In the middle of the lockdown I feel that the solitude I have been confined to is not enough, and I am trying to disengage from those few people I am still in touch with. Odd as it might seem I feel like breaking free from those few relationships I still have. As Sartre put it so well, ‘Hell is Other People...

Caltagirone - Osservazioni argute su un paese in rovina

Caltagirone è un’incantevole cittadina in cima ad una collina alta quasi come una montagna. Nel punto più elevato della città, in cima alla scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, (foto) si toccano i 610 metri sul livello del mare (ma secondo la Treccani sono solo 608). Altri 2 metri e sarebbe stata montagna, ma purtroppo così volle la sorte e i movimenti geologici delle falde terrestri. Secondo l’Oxford English Dictionary una montagna è considerata tale se supera i 610 m. Tuttavia, in Scozia c’è una certa indifferenza per quanto riguarda le dimensioni delle cime tempestose, che vengono tutte chiamate indifferentemente “hills”, cioè colline. In Galles la differenza tra colline e montagne non è determinata dall’altezza ma dalla loro apparenza e dall’uso che se ne fa. Questa precisazione è di rigore se vogliamo confrontarci con paesi e culture diverse e il loro rapporto con le altitudini. La Collina, tuttavia, ha un qualcosa di dolce nel suono e nel paesaggio. Mentre la...

Terroni non si nasce si diventa

Sono sdraiata sulla sabbia bianca vicino al mare limpido e caldo con il fantasma dell’Africa all’orizzonte. Fantasma perché non l’ho mai vista, eppure c’è chi giura che da Capo Passero - la punta più a sud d’Europa - nelle giornate limpide si può intravedere l’ombra di una terra lontana. Secondo la leggenda, sull’isola delle Correnti, un piccolo isolotto difronte a Capo Passero, vi approdarono Ulisse e i suoi marinai. Tra un bagno e l’altro nell’acqua calda e trasparente leggo la storia dell’Unità d’Italia. Per essere più precisi, dello sbarco degli invasori Piemontesi nel Regno delle due Sicilie, infatti non fu mai dichiarata guerra, arrivarono e basta. Ho spesso pensato che la favoletta di Garibaldi e dei Mille fosse un po’ improbabile, somigliava troppo ad una storiella per bambini, ma quando la trovi su tutti i testi scolastici, e te la propinano assieme al latte materno finisci per crederci. Poi, un giorno, dopo tanti anni, scopri, proprio mentre sei su una bellissima spiaggia...

InsideMyHead

Search This Blog