[Reader-list] Account almost in verses of a trip to Lebanon

[francesca recchia]

BEIRUT 

Appearance and forgetfulness 

Bullet holes on the walls recall the war 

Living by the day forgets the past 

The signs of religion design identity 

The signs of religion hide identity 

Veiled bodies and underdressed bodies sit one next to the other 

Buses are for poor people 

Old houses: wounded and abandoned 

New towers: glass steel concrete 

Many buildings look like old ladies with too much make up 

Time to arrive, time to leave: excess gives little space for thinking and understanding 

  

TYRE 

Looking for the Phoenicians 

When you sleep in a lighthouse, the sound of the waves rocks you into sleep and wakes you up 

Palestine is not far away 

The fisherman Toni has big, tanned hands and cooks fish by the sea 

Carrots in water lemon and salt keep company to beer and sunset 

Sun burnt skin gives a sense of freedom 

United Nation troops are in Tyre to keep the peace 

United Nation troops are in Tyre to keep an eye on Israel 

  

SIDON 

There are few traces of the Phoenicians left 

A hill of seashells is all we have to be reminded of the myth of the purple dye 

Crusaders built castles into the sea 

Lebanon is the land of Adonis, who was also called Tammuz or Eshmoun 

Eshmoun is Melqart’s brother. It seems that they both liked to eat children 

Archeological
sites are the background of clandestine romantic dates: hands touch,
lips get closer and closer, a hijiab is lifted by the wind 

  

ON THE WAY TO BEITTEDINE 

A
couple as ancient as time bake manakheesh on the side of the road: he
has blue eyes; her hands and back are bent by the efforts 

  

ZAHLE 

A traffic-less crossroad 

An old woman in a young body runs a hotel where time stopped too long ago 

In the vineyards of Ksara in the 1800s a Jesuit chases a fox that steals his chickens and discovers ancient underground tunnels 

  

AANJAR 

Umayyad dynasty ruled for one hundred years and then the Abbasids defeated them 

  

BAALBEC 

Grey lizards look like small dinosaurs 

Hezbollah and Jean Cocteau 

Gigantic stones and yellow and green flags 


francesca recchia
kiccovich at yahoo.com
it +39 338 166 3648
iq +964 (0) 750 7085 681
http://www.veleno.tv/bollettini/