Cities

03/09/2021 Nilson Lattari

Cities are not only connections between narrow alleys, large avenues, store windows and cars that stop at traffic lights waiting for hurried pedestrians to cross the streets.
Cities are eyes looking at us from the top of buildings. Spying on us through eyes on the floors, hidden by curtains, dark windows, dark glasses hung in the air.
What do cities see? How do cities see us?
Cities are squeezed people walking on the pavements, shoulders bumping, casual encounters of hands. Their narrow streets are built by compressed stones on each side of the roadways as a threatening ready to throw them in the air.
Side by side, houses are aligned throughout sidewalks, a crazy contend for space. Night pedestrians covered by night cloaks put their feet on the walls looking at naught or everything. The air is full of small pieces of smoke that wander to find the poor illumination of the streets like fireflies of gas looking for the light.
Lights come from the houses windows to help illuminate the night. A noise reverberates in the air. Someone screams and everyone hears it but they keep calm in their homes waiting for the news. Now, streets are dark and sinister by night. Only threatening eyes are in movement: death.
The sun shines when the day begins and reveals the design of the buildings in a clearer way. Salespeople offer hopes on lottery tickets, ads announce useless things, shops windows offer products for sale. During the day women wearing elegant clothes walk in front of stores. They stand there to admire their desired objects or they are only showing their new clothes. Meanwhile, some other women are in a hurry to serve them and they come out from the shops. Babel, noise: life.
Suddenly, rains fall and the streets turn empty. The water ignores if it falls over rich or poor people who are squeezed under bus stop covers. Democratically, it greets all those who are there, blessing everybody. Now, the streets are wet and filled with fine drops, and colourful neon mirrors reflect store windows on the puddles, in pieces. The city sees itself shinning on the water.
Then, a car passes and melts everything.