I stop by the fountain, it's dark: Roberto Bolaño: A White Handkerchief

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Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) in flight: photo by Lip Kee Yap, 11 September 2005

I'm walking in the park, it's fall, looks like somebody got killed. Until yesterday, I thought my life could be different. I was in love, etc. I stop by the fountain, it's dark, the surface shiny, but when I brush it with the palm of my hand I feel how rough it really is. From here I watch an old cop approach the body with hesitant steps. A cold breeze is blowing, raising goose bumps. The cop kneels by the body: with a dejected gesture he covers his eyes with his left hand. A flock of starlings rise. They circle over the policeman's head and then disappear. The policeman goes through the dead man's pockets and piles what he finds on a white handkerchief that he's spread out on the grass. Dark green grass that seems to want to swallow up the white square. Maybe it's the dark old papers that the cop sets on the handkerchief that make me think this way. I decide to sit down for a while. The park benches are white with wrought-iron legs. A police car comes down the street. It stops. Two cops get out. One of them heads toward where the old cop is crouched. The other waits by the car and lights a cigarette. A while later an ambulance silently appears and parks behind the police car. "I didn't see anything"... "A dead man in the park"..."An old cop"...


Roberto Bolaño: A White Handkerchief, from Antwerp, 1980, translated by Natasha Wimmer, New Directions, 2010

A Woman Grieves over Her Dead Boyfriend, Stabbed in Chapultepec Park While Resisting Robbers, Mexico City: photo by Enrique Metidides, 1985 (via American Suburb X) 

Red-winged Starling (Onychognathus morio) in flight, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa: photo by Lip Kee Yap, 6 October 2009

 Tlaloc fountain, Chapultepec Park,  Mexico City (detail): photo by Carraol, 25 August 2008




Red-winged Starling (Lampitornis superbus) in flight, Taita-Hills, Kenya: photo by Marjorie Apel, 26 July 2008

 Chapultepec Park (Bosque de Chapultepec): overlooking Lago Menor (Chapultepec Lake, first section) toward Polanco, with buildings on Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City: photo by Clinker, 2007

 Tlaloc fountain, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City: photo by Carraol, 25 August 2008




Rosy Starlings (Sturnus roseus) in flight, Gujarat, India: photo by J. M. Garg, 29 November 2007




Street view: a series of unfortunate events #30: photo by Michael Wolf, 2010

 Tlaloc fountain, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City (II): photo by Carraol, 25 August 2008

Street view: a series of unfortunate events #33: photo by Michael Wolf, 2010




 Tlaloc fountain, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City (III): photo by Carraol, 25 August 2008