It was very odd to find a kangaroo in Conzano, a tiny town in the heart of the Piedmont in Northern Italy. Odd and confusing I felt, since I could not discern the grounds of such a concrete presence.
Imperative is to stress that I mean “concrete” in two senses: the material (the cement of the moulding) in which this particular marsupial was made and hung on the lateral outer wall of the local bar, facing the main square; and its categorical ubiquity.
The kangaroo was there and I could fantasize that it has been –from immemorial times- monitoring every movement in this community: from the unperceived panting of a fly to the exact instant of the crunching echo of a blossoming flower; from the hopeful sigh of an enchanted heart to the dripping rumoring about the weather and the scented conversations held …show more content…
The coldness of the stacked stones evoked the ardor of anonymous hands which laid them to give themselves shelter; to create a sense of home and coziness after endless journeys of inclement work.
The rowdiness of the graveyard indicating that those hands (the hands that shaped the architectural layers and landscapes that make Conzano today) finally found rest; expired hands that reveal the relentlessly circularity of life.
[…]
As I was flowing through a wave of multiple and diverse stimuli, utterly absorbed in them, I ran into a road sign that, with no rush, began to unveil the mystery of the kangaroo. A welcoming sign that alerts the drivers that they are about to arrive to a town twinned with another one over 15,000 kilometers away: a town called Ingham in North Queensland, Australia.
I wondered then: why? Why would a sign present this community in such manner? What is the story behind this? Since I assumed there had to be a rich, savory tale behind an always dull and ordinary road sign.
There was. Indeed.
Imperative is to stress that I mean “concrete” in two senses: the material (the cement of the moulding) in which this particular marsupial was made and hung on the lateral outer wall of the local bar, facing the main square; and its categorical ubiquity.
The kangaroo was there and I could fantasize that it has been –from immemorial times- monitoring every movement in this community: from the unperceived panting of a fly to the exact instant of the crunching echo of a blossoming flower; from the hopeful sigh of an enchanted heart to the dripping rumoring about the weather and the scented conversations held …show more content…
The coldness of the stacked stones evoked the ardor of anonymous hands which laid them to give themselves shelter; to create a sense of home and coziness after endless journeys of inclement work.
The rowdiness of the graveyard indicating that those hands (the hands that shaped the architectural layers and landscapes that make Conzano today) finally found rest; expired hands that reveal the relentlessly circularity of life.
[…]
As I was flowing through a wave of multiple and diverse stimuli, utterly absorbed in them, I ran into a road sign that, with no rush, began to unveil the mystery of the kangaroo. A welcoming sign that alerts the drivers that they are about to arrive to a town twinned with another one over 15,000 kilometers away: a town called Ingham in North Queensland, Australia.
I wondered then: why? Why would a sign present this community in such manner? What is the story behind this? Since I assumed there had to be a rich, savory tale behind an always dull and ordinary road sign.
There was. Indeed.