Day 22 & Thursday Doors, 22/4/21: Torre Alfina 4.

• Manja Maksimovič

Today is the last door post from Torre Alfina, visited last autumn on the Last Day I Saw Something New. My poem – which is a haibun – explores the symbolism surrounding Tuscany.

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Prompt 22: “Today I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that invokes a specific object as a symbol of a particular time, era, or place.“

I decided to tackle the entire symbolism that surrounds Tuscany, where I live, with the following haibun (basically, a block of prose followed by a haiku).

Tuscany

Eyebrow-raising. Envy-inducing. Assumption of riches. No wonder that disappointments come easily. “I thought you lived in a villa.” “This doesn’t seem like typical Tuscany! No cypress trees?” Maybe because Tuscany ends 15 minutes away. Imagine living in Lazio. It would have a completely different ring to it. Mistakes: “Ah, Tuscany! I was travelling around Alicante a lot when I lived in France.” Or, the favourite: “Where are now your famous lavender fields?” We have poppies, remember? Alicante is Spain. Lavender is Provence. Provence is France.

They plop “Tuscany” 
on products to raise the price. 
Priceless poppies laugh.

In photos first this one, just in. Sister sends this lovely shot from Maribor, Slovenia, saying: “They say it’s Thursday.”

And now, who says that it must always be Tuscany? This is the last post in my Torre Alfina door series which begins with this post. So far we have climbed to the top of the castle with a lovely but closed door and now we return down to the town.

It was October 30th 2020, the Last Day I Saw Something New. I packed my dog and we drove to Lazio to visit this castle town that I hadn’t even heard mentioned before. It happens all the time. The entire Italy is packed with beauty, not only Tuscany.

But the truth is that in such golden light everything would look pretty. Just look at these autumn leaves!

  • Where we finished the last time: a lovely church but no door.
  • Then there was this sun-kissed street.
  • A rusty but peculiar setup.
  • The view up for some laundry.
  • Head-shaped knockers.
  • No doors but look at this growth, oranges and all. No! Kakis!
  • Another fine one.
  • The sunniest side of the street.
  • Frankly, the door doesn’t even matter. Any door would look good in this light.
  • A house with the whitewashed face.
  • The last look up.
  • I must go now.
  • There is some autumn in my car.
  • A piece of Tuscany is always with me. Even in Lazio. If the phone dies.
  • All together now reflected in the car door. Byeee!
  • I braked and reversed to capture this one.
  • Luckily no traffic behind me. This was after Aquapendente where I didn’t stop.
  • I stopped for this tree-lined promenade. There is a gate at the end but I didn’t continue.
  • How pretty! A self-standing postbox with a door. Some deer were passing this field a bit further ahead. Luckily bestia didn’t see them.
  • And finally, the best remains of the day: sunset in the car door.

For Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan at No Facilities

and for:

NaPoWriMo 2021 Button with black background

This day in my NaPoWriMo history (2018):

When will the pigs fly?

“I’m going to write a poem
about le porchette che volano,”
I announce
and he smiles.
He smiles a lot these days.
I know why.
He is disassembling
and reassembling
room by room.
There is stuff everywhere
but there is method to the madness.
The smell of cleaning agents
calms him.
The aisle with
home care products
is his favourite part of a shop.

He gave a salmon paint-over
to the smallest
and most concealed
space in our home
and left the light on
to illuminate it
just because it’s so pretty.

His zest
brushes off
and Manja –
the uncareful and discareless one
(who rushes off to
write down
these two words
announcing that
she is bound to do
this sort of thing
more often now
that she’s a poet)
first knocked down
two mattresses
that knocked down
an open tub of paint
that splashed all over
(you get the idea)
just trying to help,
and today spent her Sunday
cleaning the bedroom
of her own free will.

Her mom knows.
One time
she called Manja
and asked her what she was up to
and Manja replied
“I’m buying a broom.”

Obviously it happened then
and now it’s happening again.
Le porchette volano.
The pigs fly.

37 thoughts on “Day 22 & Thursday Doors, 22/4/21: Torre Alfina 4.”

  4. I love your spirit, Manja – “I braked while backing up…” of course you did 🙂 My favorite today is the beautiful double door at #40, but they are all nice. You had a very fruitful visit.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. The wonders of fall seen in spring! Love the red leaves on the wall! The angle of that tri-corner front (am forgetting the name for that Renaissance feature) is perfect! Why the hurry? Or is it the leaves?
    Jesh

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Love how the haibun form works with this subject matter. The block of text suggests a swarm of tourists with a swarm of misconceptions! A wall of silly questions. Stunning photography, as always.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. Love that one that your sister sent, a stand alone beauty. And that growth.
    That reflection in the car door, in including the gas pump says it time to hit the road!! That place sounds. Your haibun is nice topper… buying a broom. Funny, bitter sweet as someone said.
    Love it!

    Pat

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Fabulous doors and I love the shot of the lines of trees. I also enjoyed your writing, Manja. We lived in Alicante Province for quite a few years.
    “They plop “Tuscany”
    on products to raise the price.
    Priceless poppies laugh.”

    That’s a good one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
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