Let’s play war.
I’m the general and you’re a martyr.
The siren wails.
Take shelter and tremble, but do stay in.
War has started.
without preliminary warnings.
Retreat; reoccupy the attic.
The first centre of resistance rounded up.
Ruthlessly.
Everybody has won.
That terrible time is over.
We have survived.
Catch the traitors, hang them, teach them a lesson.
Especially my quisling neighbour.
WHERE ONE DREAMS OF THE FRAIL GIRL ON HER BIKE,
THE LONG BLONDE ONE WITH THE DARK GREEN EYES,
THE NAVEL OF THERESA, THE COUSIN FROM AMERICA,
THE HORNY GLANCE OF THE WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER,
THE YOUNGER SISTER OF THE CURRENT GIRLFRIEND,
ERECTIONS AND ORGASMS, THE BEAUTIFUL BREASTS OF JEANINE,
HELENA’S ARMS, ELLEN’S HAIR, IRENE’S MOUTH AND
CECILE’S PUBIC HAIR.
-the moment-
It is the end of the day.
Low sunset.
A man dives into the water from a spring-board.
A short movement, a sound, a slight change of scent, an interruption in the smoothness of the water’s surface.
The moment is almost too short to experience.
The same man, on the high spring-board this time.
He’s standing quietly, concentrating. Then he sprints to the edge and .
A salto mortale followed by a double screw.
A fraction of a second.
Splashing water, sound, a slight change of scent, the broken surface.
Almost too short to experience.
Too short to see it properly, too short to remember, too short to be able to judge the difference.
WHERE ONE IS WARNED ABOUT PICKPOCKETS AND ROBBERS,
TEDDY BOYS, PAEDOPHILES, CHILDREN AND UNLEASHED DOGS,
ROLLERSKATERS RUNNING PAST, MONSTERS, SALESMEN,
YELLING SUPPORTERS, TRAMPS, POLITICIANS, FORGERS,
DRUNKEN STUDENTS, MASQUERADES AND PARTIES,
NEIGHBOURS AND FAMILY MEMBERS, SMART ALECS AND SWINDLERS,
CIVIL SERVANTS AND ASSESSORS.
-the experience-
She was standing next to me, and didn’t know what she was watching.
Was it an illusion or did she have something in her eye? It seemed as if different images interfered and merged with each other.
Was she a victim of tricks, holograms or computer animation?
She winced, trying to focus but seeing only a continuously moving stage set with too many actors. It irritated her that she couldn’t see what she was looking at – no recognition, no clues.
Everything seemed to evaporate. She was amazed at how sight influenced the way she thought, how different she now felt.
Time, distance and scale were not distinguishable anymore.
Colours changed their meaning, matter seemed to have vanished.
At first she was scared and tried to resist. Later she started to enjoy it.
Her thoughts became happier, her pace more supple as her surroundings rotated.
She was beautiful and became even more so there, next to me.
WHERE ONE IS REQUESTED TO BEAR IN MIND THAT OPENING HOURS
HAVE CHANGED, NOT TO USE RUDE LANGUAGE, TO WEAR A TIE,
NOT TO DRINK ANY ALCOHOL, TO EMPATHISE WITH OTHERS,
TO BEHAVE DECENTLY, NOT TO KISS HIS OR HER LOVER IN PUBLIC,
TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, TO LOOK NO ONE STRAIGHT INTO THE EYES,
TO FOLLOW THE HOUSE RULES STRICTLY.
-the impossibility of experience-
I dreamt about an escape route last night. I found myself in a huge house in which I had never been before. I was on one side by a small entrance.
A massif wooden relief hung on the wall.
Thoughtlessly I walked to one of the protruding panels and pulled it down. It revealed a strange button, which I turned.
I looked into a black hole that supposedly functioned as an entrance.
I cannot recollect whether I really entered.
Suddenly I find myself at the side of an Italian square, looking at the same house but now from the outside.
It is shaped like a long box with an extremely big, pointed roof. The last building left on the edge of an immense square.
Its long wall slowly transformed into perfectly transparent glass becoming so completely dissolved in its surroundings that you could hardly talk about its disappearance.
Only the square was still there.
Empty, with water in the distance.
WHERE ONE THINKS ABOUT SKYSCRAPERS AND OFFICE BUILDINGS,
FACTORIES AND BUSINESS CENTRES, INDUSTRIAL AND
RESIDENTIAL AREAS, PARKS AND GARDENS,
SWIMMING POOLS AND CENTRES OF ENTERTAINMENT,
SCHOOLS AND LEISURE CENTRES, EMBASSIES
AND CONCERT BUILDINGS, CITY HALLS AND ZOOS,
CHURCHES AND HOSPITALS, STATIONS AND SQUARES,
HIGH RISE BUILDINGS AND FAMILY HOUSES,
SHOPS AND WORKSHOPS, APARTMENTS AND PIEDS-Ë-TERRE.
-the place-
Tens of birdcages with twittering canaries decorate the entrance. Amongst them one contains a lonely parrot.
A large, round room with a concave floor and pillars. Behind each pillar a smaller, cylindrical room. At three different points the smaller rooms inexplicably converge with the large room.
Complete circles don’t exist.
Searching for a centre, searching for a point where you could grasp the room, or rather the rooms, you automatically start walking, carefully. The pillars are convoluted, their details so elaborate that they become almost morbid, the overwhelming scale prompting a slight distrust.
Though you can hardly withdraw, less abundance wouldn’t have made the experience any less enjoyable.
The eternal battle between ultimate pleasure and reason.
Fortunately pleasure wins.
Especially when you slowly discover that the richness has nothing to do with decoration or decorum, but apparently serves a purpose though one you are unable to describe..
The sun is a parallactic triangle, the shine an autonomous movement, independent from its subject.
Hang on to your vertigo.
WHERE ONE WATCHES PYRAMIDS AND EIFFEL-TOWERS,
THE TOWER OF PISA OR DEVOTIONAL PICTURES,
GLASSES WITH INSCRIPTIONS, THE CHALICE WITH THE TOWN ARMS,
PRINTED SCARVES AND WICKER BASKETS,
SILVER TEASPOONS AND ASHTRAYS,
THE FRAMED PORTRAIT OF THE LOCAL KING, LEATHER PURSES,
PLAYING CARDS WITH NUDES, BANGLES, BAGS,
STONE BOXES AND ENDLESS NUMBERS OF POSTCARDS.
-the impossibility of place-
Everyone seemed excited. They cheered anxiously, awaiting our guide who had promised us beforehand that this would be the moment suprème of this excursion. Then he gave us the usual information, including dates, wars and natural disasters.
If you weren’t aware of the original function of this place, you would never have guessed.
We looked at old, weather beaten architecture, that commanded respect because of its age. It was difficult for us to describe the particularity of this place. More so since we were to visit other places of a similar character. However, our guide didn’t label those as moments suprèmes, nor were they mentioned in our travel guide.
Sooner or later you can’t help but feel indifferent.
WHERE IT IS PROHIBITED TO TALK LOUDLY, TO SPIT,
TO STEP ON THE GRASS, TO BURGLE, TO THREATEN
TO KILL ONE’S NEIGHBOUR, TO SMOKE, TO DANCE, TO CURSE,
TO PARK, TO STEAL, TO DESTROY, TO PLAY WAR,
TO DROWN ONE’S MOTHER, TO HARRASS LITTLE GIRLS,
TO LET YOUR THOUGHTS WANDER, TO STICK OUT YOUR NECK.