We decided to divide the city
The Old Quarter would be the place containing schooldays
It was years behind, this zone
So you could go back there if you wanted
Buy a return to your childhood
Exchange your experience for your innocence
You couldn’t make it your home.
And yet many people tried
We had to block the quarter, conduct evictions, erect a giant barricade
The peace wall, we called it, though in fact it was the opposite
Adults wept. Pressed their faces into concrete
Calling out to lost children
An economy grew around the wall
People selling postcards and mementos. Trinkets from the other side
I went there myself once
To observe the mystery of the human spirit
The way it creates idols out of absence
We had to understand it, in order to monetise the attraction
Touching the wall, I confess, I felt something
An almost physical impulse - a reminder of a former citizen
An anxious boy, with kind eyes
Who dreamed of towering cityscapes
Who dreamed of the future
Who never dreamed of dereliction
About the Creator
Yanto Adda
There were three cats that congregated on the roof of the house at the corner of the apartment block, uncoiling in the sun, eyes closed, breathing calm and slow.
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