Talavera y Azulejos

'Lisboa ia a city which has relationships
with the visible world like no other.
It plays a game. Its squares and streets
are paved with patterns
of white and coloured stones, as if,
instead of being roads, they were ceilings.
Its walls, both indoors and out doors,
are covered with the famous azulejos tiles where ever you look.'
From 'Here is where we meet' by John Berger



'And these tiles speak of the fabulous things to be seen in the world:
a monkey playing pipes,
a woman picking grapes,
saints praying, whales in the ocean,
crusaders in their boats,
basilica plants, magpies in flight, lovers embracing,
a tame lion,
a Moreia fish with spots like a leopard.
The tiles of the city draw attention to the visible, to what can be seen.' J.Berger

Today Alex, who I guess you could say, is our handyman,
dropped off three tiles
and a big bucket of wall glue.
" Would you guys use these,
I was going through some old stuff
and thought you might like them..
...they are from the 80's.."

Alex held out the tiles like Tarot cards, or photographs,
I did not ask but I felt the history he gave them.

"..if Tony needs my tile cutter just give us a call,
the glue will prevent anything from falling off the wall,
it holds anything up. You look well today Eddy, clear, bright! "

"Thanks Alex, I am."

I often feel so held in the store.




I added Alex's tiles to the pile of collected tiles.
Tony and I, at the end of our time in Mexico,
collected Talavera from Puebla.
We carried the painted tiles around, eventually
sending them home to Australia only to collect more
when we worked in Portugal,
where the tiles were known as Azulejos.




As I glued the tiles on to the wall in the kitchen area,
which is really just a sink in a small room, and
waited for them to dry before adding grout,
I had trouble believing they were not always where they are now
where I had put them.

Each one carried from the other side of the world,
or collected by someone,
kept from another time,
taken from one place to another,
to rest here
in Elwood, in this little store.

'Lisboetas often talk of a feeling, a mood, which they call saudade,
usually translated as nostalgia, which is incorrect.....Saudade, I decided as i drank a second coffee...
was the feeling of fury at having to hear the words too late pronounced too calmly.' J.Berger

To be continued....