From Genoa with...
{February 2023}

An antiques market.  
Books wrapped in cellophane from various publishers with nondescript covers. Ten
copies of "AIRCRAFT" in English. Furniture. Teak or oak dining room tables for
ten with extra leaves that allow it to seat fourteen, bent metal-tubing chairs
from Alessi, side tables, and mid-century coffee tables. Knick-knacks from "'800
e '900": costume jewelry, rings with enormous fake sapphires, chunky necklaces,
cameos of nondescript silhouettes beside porcelain putti. Posters. Movie
posters, show posters from the '20s and '30s, art prints from the local boy
wonders, reproductions, originals, and the engravings you find in the tourist
shops. Tin helmets, machine guns, and inert grenades; plastic tanks, toy
soldiers, Micro-Machines, and Hot Wheels (for the collectors). Buddha heads in
wood and Tibetan Prayer flags, vases and mugs and old road maps sorted by region
and city. One does the crossword through her half-reading glasses; another reads
the newspaper, and yet another disputes prices with a customer. A student
watches a lecture on his computer at the bistro while eating a heaping plate of
pasta.

"Impor -export".  
Fatigues and used clothing. Mostly jackets packed tightly together.  Camouflage
broadcasts and advertises in a mass of patterns. Leather jackets with lamb skin
collars in the window. The patches preserved, sheepskin-lined denim coats,
corduroy shirts and blue jeans. Canvass and leather all packed together. Then
the importers. Sneakers, knock-off Adidas, chunky soles and thin soles,
knock-off Keds. Blank T-shirts in a spectrum of colours all lined up by colour
and size. Pants, get your pants! The proprietor stands in the doorway. Bags.
Square luggage with two or four wheels. Large rectangular bags. All in a variety
of colours.  "Louise Votten" and "Long Champs" straight in from the docks.
Backpacks, duffle bags packed tightly in cellophane, raincoats, and umbrellas.
Passport sleeves and ticket holders.  Souvenirs arrayed on the wall, but these
stores are closed. Magnets: flat magnets with printed images, plaster moulded
magnets, commemorative cups and shot glasses.  Postcards on a rotating stand,
keychains. The traffic is bumper to bumper.  Trucks with full-size and half-size
containers, cars, motorcycles, taxis, busses on the way to the train station.
Ferries. Ferries to Sardinia.  Ferries to Corsica. Then it opens up.