“Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re choking
Everything is broken”
(Bob Dylan in Broken)
Liège (B)
This construction worker is working on his fitness
“Keiner plagt sich gerne, doch wir wissen:
Grau ist’s immer, wenn ein Morgen naht
Und trotz Hunger, Kält und Finternissen
Stehn zum Handanlegen wir parat.
Fort mit den Trümmern
Und was Neues hingebaut!
Um uns selber müssen wir uns selber kümmern
Und heraus gegen uns, wer sich traut!”
(B. Brecht in Aufbaulieder no.1)
Seraing (B)
We sit inside and we play
“Play, play every day, play and play and play away, and then play
the play you played to-day, the play you play every day, play it
and play it. Play it and remember it and ask to play it. Play it, and
play it and play away. Certainly every one wants you to play,
every one wants you to play away, to play every day, to play and
play, to play the play you play every day, to play and remember it
and ask to play it and play it and to play away and to play every
day and to-day and all day. That’s the way to play, to play every
day…. “
(Gertrude Stein in Play)
Solingen (D)
The building that needs to vomit
Bains Communaux
“Dans le bain, sur les dalles,
À mon pied négligent
J’aime à voir des sandales
De cuir jaune et d’argent.
En quittant ma baignoire,
Il me plaît qu’une noire
Fasse mordre à l’ivoire
Mes cheveux, manteau brun,
Et, versant l’eau de rose
Sur mon sein qu’elle arrose,
Comme l’aube et la rose,
Mêle perle et parfum.”
(P.J.Th. Gautier in Ghazel)
Dison (B)