Pic and a Word Challenge #190: Before all this shit

Usually I zero in on the good stuff but it’s time. I’ve been saving these for the day just like today.

First, it was exactly one year ago today that I joined Patrick’s Pic and a Word challenge for the first time with this eucalyptus post. I have missed only a few weeks. Thank you, Patrick, for your words and images.

Next, a poem that burst forth today. And I haven’t even started on the male gaze and the female venom.

I want to tell you
 
Before deluge  
before disrepair
before self-destruction
I want to tell you
 
Before I start
saying what I won’t regret
tipping my dog for a smile
charging for mom’s pictures
I want to tell you
 
Before the bad overpowers the good
all grapes turn sour
first world problems disappear
I want to tell you  
 
we done did it ourselves. 

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What you are about to see are scenes of discomfort around where I live. You know and I know that this is nothing. People are dying, animals are tortured, crime is the norm, it’s hard to live. And yet, this is Tuscany. It’s scary to feel it creep in.

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  Let’s start with something that bugs me the most. This is on the local primary school property. I first saw it in 2016 but it didn’t seem new.

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  Near the station is this building, a tourist office. February 2016.

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  And again in January 2018. Notice the new dog shapes on the see-saw.

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  By March 2018 it was pristine.

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  And by September 2018 this happened. “Yellow” was not happy with the painters and gave them more work. They didn’t pounce. Still there.

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  Checking on the school sore: still there. January 2018.

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  A view from afar. Would be such a pretty school.

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  Just as I thought nobody shot at signs around here, I found this by the eco farm.

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  Somebody was practising. October 2018.

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  January 2019: My joy was premature.

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  Somebody was shooting at the panda, the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund.

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  And this I can only hope is merely a sports fan group. Suddenly Arezzo doesn’t seem so appealing.

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  Probably the worst of them all: “Thank you for the cigarettes.” This bar has been broken into at least five times in six years since I’m here. Only cigarettes were taken.

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  Checking on the school sore. Yep, still there. Cat doesn’t help. November 2018.

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  A hop to Rome. Ethnic resistance? Finally!

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  Oh. Not the one I was hoping for. “Houses to Romans, immigrants out.”

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  “Death to the Chinese who eat dogs.” Chesi also means Czechs. I was worried for a moment for Slavic brothers. (Not that it doesn’t worry me anyhow.)

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  Back to Tuscany. This can be found everywhere after New Year’s Eve, I’m sure.

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  But here it looks especially ugly. One year before there was such a peaceful Eve.

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  Final check in February 2019: not only it’s still there, it’s getting vocal. Fuck you just as much. If not more.

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #190: Before