THE MANHOLE COVERS (September 14, 2012)
I dreamt that I was walking with a few friends through a city reminiscent of Zagreb when I spotted on the pavement a couple of manhole covers with my name cast on them. They were close to each other. Not far from them were several smaller cast-iron covers with the usual service insignia. One was for water, another for electricity, and yet another for either gas or telephone. “Ah,” I remember mumbling to myself, “the project is on.” If I remember correctly, the project involved putting my name and the address of my Residua website on several thousand covers across the city. I was to cover a part of the cost of casting the covers, but the expense was negligible. I was thus surprised that the two covers were placed so closely together. They should be far apart, I felt. The project puzzled me when I woke up in the middle of the night. What was its purpose but to advertise my site? If so, why advertise it at all? Unable to come up with a meaningful answer, I fell asleep again. The question returned when I got up this morning, but I still remain puzzled. All I can say is that it was an unexpected pleasure seeing my name in the middle of the street. Cast in iron, a little worn by people and cars, covered in part with dirt, the manhole covers are still alive in my mind’s eye.