the whole year 2016 is going to deal with number seven. seven are the colours of the rainbow. according to wikipedia. so February. the first issue of 2016. I dedicate it to colour. but above all to Mattotti. who on a sunny afternoon at #LuccaComics2015. while we were sitting at a small café outdoors. talking of this and that. woke up from a thought he was absorbed in. looked at me and said. PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF COLOUR. at that precise moment everything stopped. I looked at myself. all dressed in black. always. for years. I realized. and as I am writing now, I realize. that I too. am afraid of colour. I have frozen my personality. my dreams. my desires. and in black I interpret. rationalise. forget. it’s not easy to use “colour”. to let us be pierced touched and notched by light. it’s not easy. to dream and look on without caring about what others think. it’s not easy. in this world were appearance is everything. and a rainbow is only “an optical and meteorological phenomenon resulting in an almost uninterrupted spectrum of light appearing in the sky when the sunrays cross the droplets of water suspended in the air after a storm, or near a waterfall or a fountain”. can we still see it as a little present? a spell? a miracle? happening on that distant yet not unattainable horizon that we always forget to look at. on a day in which everything looked like rain and discouragement. but suddenly the sun appears and everybody stops still, staring spellbound at the little raindrops that are still suspended in the air after the storm. capturing the sunrays and turning them into colour. and into a bridge. a long and colourful bridge of glee and serenity. that I wish I could walk on forever. and cross, too.
somewhere over the rainbow
way up high,
there’s a land that I heard of
once in a lullaby.
somewhere over the rainbow
skies are blue,
and the dreams that you dare to dream
really do come true.
when a sunray hits my eyes while I am absorbed in life. strange and bright landscapes open up in front of me. and I would never let them go. because light. colour. are not mere physical phenomena. just like a kiss is not only an exchange of saliva.
someday I’ll wish upon a star
and wake up where the clouds are far
behind me.
where troubles melt like lemon drops
away above the chimney tops
that’s where you’ll find me.
#OVERTHERAINBOW. was meant as a reflection about colour. and it is a greeting. for all of us.
somewhere over the rainbow
bluebirds fly.
birds fly over the rainbow.
why then, oh why can’t I?
if happy little bluebirds fly
beyond the rainbow
why, oh why can’t I?
* Over the Rainbow, musica di Harold Arlen e testo di Edgar Yipsel Harburg, 1939.