Sul Campo Del Mare - Vilenica

V2-2010.PM52906/13/100, 12:14 PMAris FioretosFrom the Front, c. 1967CaninesThe front teeth were those of a predator. At first their setting was a dampcave of just a few centimetres. Back then there was only a lump of fleshthere, which sat upon ineffable treasures like the dragon in the fairytale,entrenched behind a bulwark of milk-coloured dentine. If the creaturewanted to amuse or deceive, it wiped its tip across the balustrade; if it feltfear or rage, it withdrew itself, tip aquiver. But after five or six years thefirst watch fell and was replaced by a second generation. The changing ofthe guard had something humiliating about it – he realised the originalsoldiers had not fallen in battle. For a short time the cave transformeditself into a defenceless grotto, unsure about its proper function. Thenthe new guard shot up.The rows were still sparsely populated, but four cornerstones rose in aconspicuous position, their appearance reminiscent of the palisades thathe built in summer. Sitting on the beach, he created castles, which heprovided with fortifications by letting wet sand trickle from his fist. It didnot require much imagination to see that the new formations were of asimilarly stalagmitic origin. When he learned that they were called ‘canines’,he recognised what dogs had in their mouths. His own canineswere so pointed that using them alone he could carry objects or injureenemies. From time to time they tore open the inside of his mouth, proofenough that they did not deny their animal nature just because, for once,he was not fighting with his surroundings. Yawning in front of the mirror,he could see them three steps from the middle of each jaw, heroesfrom an earlier era of evolution, closer to both gods and animals thantheir neighbours. In one case, on the upper left side, the tooth that separatedthe canine from the incisor was missing, making the line of defenceless compact than desired. As a warrior, however, he knew his canineshad roots that extended up into the heaven of the upper gums, down intothe underworld of his chin. With such a pedigree they would not yieldeasily. Half celestial, half chthonic, they became the tongue’s body guard.A list of involuntary placesHere follows a list of the areas of the body over which he exerted no control:(1) THE TELEGRAPH (the left knee which, caught in soulless trance,jiggled under the school bench, its mechanical energy sending ever thesame signals to an irritated universe);290