Here you won't find the pages of a pedantic journal, praises to fantastic places or accounts of memorable encounters. This is a collection of stories, thoughts, images, and most of all odd stuff, even though to someone else it might actually look ordinary. To discern its bizarre side, in fact, special filters are needed: cynicism, fussiness, stubbornness, isolation, impudence, nosiness and nerdiness. All flaws that, in different measure, this semi-nomadic being has got embedded in his genes.
Monday, October 21, 2024
The Palazzina is safe - St. Julian's, Malta
A stroll down the promenade
by St. Julian's bay,
from Spinola to Balluta
on a warm autumn day.
The sky is clear,
the wind is strong,
people in swimsuits
read books or doze off.
At Paradise Exiles,
a hip bar by the sea,
locals and foreigners
have snacks and cold drinks.
A sailor from here,
tattoos on dark skin,
with longing reveals,
while sipping beers,
that in two or three weeks
high waves and big rain
will gradually sweep
the magic away.
With the bars all closed,
the sun bathers gone,
the picture will catch
a different scene.
It sounds a bit weird,
looking at it from here:
Balluta beach,
a small strip of grey sand,
fifty meters by five,
is a human beehive:
tan skin, plastic bottles,
slow motion hustle,
between the damp bodies,
little space is left.
They will be gone,
yet something will stay:
the beautiful buildings,
of St. Julian's bay.
Most tourists stare
at the Balluta block,
imposing structure,
vestige of Art Nouveou.
My eye is caught
by an abandoned house,
assembled volumes
of glass and limestone.
The Palazzina Vincenti,
the designer's own home,
is an exquisite example
of Modernist Art.
Some capitalist thought
of tearing it down,
and replace it with yet
another new mall.
A bunch of heroes
teamed up and fought back,
till the city's authorities
withdrew the plan.
The Palazzina is safe,
so are the citizens' hopes,
there still are Knights in Malta,
more than you ever thought.
St. Julian's, Malta, 6 October 2024.
Labels:
architecture,
art nouveau,
autumn,
buildings,
english,
literature,
malta,
modernism,
poetry,
sea,
st.julian's,
weather
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