{"id":112,"date":"2011-06-30T12:47:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=112"},"modified":"2015-07-19T21:38:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T21:38:31","slug":"imprisoned-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=112","title":{"rendered":"IMPRISONED IN THE CITY"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
By Lida Prypchan<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
(The City is Valencia)<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
One of my fears has been to go to jail \u2013 to be imprisoned, even though I am innocent. \u00a0But as well as being one of my fears, it has been the only answer to my dreams. \u00a0I know that as a prisoner I could read and write all day and my creativity would flow.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
One afternoon around four o\u2019clock, when I was trying to find a lecture on Chinese philosophy, I ran into two girls on a motor scooter, causing them some injuries. \u00a0I was arrested on the spot, or as they say \u201cdetained\u201d. \u00a0Almost 10 days out of my life were lost. \u00a0The first day I was furious, the second less so, the third very angry, the fourth indifferent, the fifth desperate, the sixth lethargic, the seventh hysterical, the eighth stunned, the ninth extremely depressed and the tenth just resigned. \u00a0When I went in to give my statement they look me up and down as if I were a criminal and I felt they were treating me as if they didn\u2019t believe a word I said. \u00a0Once they wouldn\u2019t even let me go out for coffee. \u00a0All day long, since the room I was in was so poorly lit and the television was always on, I had no other option but to watch all the shows. \u00a0I enjoyed the cat and mouse cartoons, the Three Stooges and the Munster Family. \u00a0I imagined how it would be if I really was in jail and, although starting to get claustrophobia, wouldn\u2019t have any choice other than to do a lot of reading and writing \u2013 whereas if free and not in the city jail, I\u2019d spend my days working, unable to devote time to what I found truly fulfilling.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
But the city was my jail. \u00a0Even if it wasn\u2019t I would still have felt like a prisoner. \u00a0While I sat there I meditated and my thoughts got lost in an endless tune. \u00a0As I wended my way back I noticed that it was a labyrinth. \u00a0I felt tied down and suddenly wanted to lose myself and go to some faraway place and rest.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
During the ten days that I was a prisoner of the city, I recalled Kavafis\u2019 poem, The City\u201d, which goes like this:<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cYou said, \u2018I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.<\/span><\/div>\n
Somewhere there must be some other city better than this.<\/span><\/div>\n
Every effort I make is a bitter sentence,<\/span><\/div>\n
And my heart is buried like a corpse.<\/span><\/div>\n
How long will my spirit remain in such apathy?<\/span><\/div>\n
Wherever I set my sight,<\/span><\/div>\n
Wherever I look,<\/span><\/div>\n
I see the black ruins of my life,<\/span><\/div>\n
Where I spent so many years,<\/span><\/div>\n
Years ruined, years lost.\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201c\u2026 You will never find other lands; you will never find other seas.<\/span><\/div>\n
The city will haunt you forever. You will wander the same streets,<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0And in the same neighborhoods you will grow old;<\/span><\/div>\n
You will turn gray within these same walls.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Always you will return to this city. \u00a0Dare not to dream of another land.<\/span><\/div>\n
You have no ship, there is no road.<\/span><\/div>\n
As you have squandered your life here,<\/span><\/div>\n
In this small corner,<\/span><\/div>\n
So have you thrown it to waste \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Throughout the world.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Lida Prypchan \u00a0 (The City is Valencia) \u00a0 One of my fears has been to go to jail \u2013 to be imprisoned, even though I am innocent. \u00a0But as well as being one of my fears, it has been the only answer to my dreams. \u00a0I know that as a prisoner I could … <\/p>\n

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