Day 12: Thursday Doors, 12/4/18: St. Paul Outside the Walls

Today I’ve learned a new form of expression and, unrelatedly, discovered a stack of unposted doors from a Roman basilica for your enjoyment.

Challenge 12: “Today, we’d like to challenge you specifically to write a haibun that takes in the natural landscape of the place you live.”

Haibun is explained in detail here. To me it sounded very much like a whole lot of text without I/me/my (not easy for me!) with a haiku in the end. Let’s see.

Haibun, then

On one side, five horses. One is cream-coloured, like a dirty ghost. Among them rabbits hop. Birds land on them sometimes, or merely follow them pecking at what they leave behind.

On the other side, a kennel with a dog and a pig. The pig grunts. It could be called a satisfied grunt. Bestia is alarmed, he has not heard it yet. A new pig, then. They are always new.

Another kennel, more dogs. Hunters leave them like this, in their cages in the fields. Surrounded by nature, yet not quite its part.

Cars are whizzing by, the more the closer the summer gets. The drivers here show no mercy. If you are on their road, it’s your fault. They drive past with not even a little arch to allow for an unexpected move on your part.

They bring to mind cashiers in supermarkets who throw items along as if they were angry which they probably aren’t. Neither are they hungry or poor, resenting you for buying so much. They simply throw stuff around, eggs and all.

And drivers simply pass an inch away from your body with speed intact.

And after the Easter, furnace wood pellets get replaced overnight with barbecue coal no matter what. As if to say:

We’re Italians.
We will have our barbecue.
We want our spring. NOW.

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In the meantime, Norm – the host of Thursday Doors, see the link below the gallery – has some cool quirky doors today, whereas I have doors of one of the grandest churches in Rome. Churches are usually his forte and I hope I do quirky well enough, so it seems that we have switched unknowingly.

I give you the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. First time you hear of it? Here’s its Italian name: Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura. Technically it’s in Italy, not Vatican, but it belongs to Vatican fully. Maybe that’s why they keep it hush hush. We will be back here with more photos, today just the doors. See if you can spot the first on the featured photo.

“Waaaaves to Liz”

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome.

Left, Latin.

Right, Greek.

For Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors challenge.