My name is Tim

Kill
3.21.2009 - 10:15 AM - Tim - 2 comments

Found this painted on a wall in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, a couple blocks west of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. After researching it, I found that it's a poem by the German playwright Bertol Brecht. I haven't been able to figure out when it was written or painted on this wall, but Brecht died in 1958, and it's written in Spanish (rather than Catalan), so I can imagine it being from his lifetime. I'm hoping to find more information about it.

My translation:

WAYS TO KILL
There are many ways to kill
They can drive a knife into your belly
Take your bread
Not cure your sickness
Put you in a bad house
Torture you until you die of working
Take you off to work, etc.
Only a few of these things are
prohibited in our city

L1 from Espanya to Urquinaona; L4 to Barceloneta
3.15.2009 - 8:54 AM - Tim - 3 comments

The Barcelona Metro feels differently on a Friday night than at any other part of the week. The men have gone home and showered, the women are wearing their expensive perfume. Everyone carries a smile -- doors are opened, mistakes are excused, delays are tolerated. Most get off at Catalunya, where they'll most surely meet up with old friends, find their favorite tapas bar, and stay up far too late drinking and laughing, discussing last week's game, their new job, and that no good Zapatero/Bush/Obama/whoever.

I, however, am on my way to El Rey de la Gamba. I'll eat jamon serrano, pa amb tomaquet, and a salty paella, then stumble back to the subway, back to Urquinaona, and then to Espanya, where my hotel's bed will await me.