Sunday, February 17, 2013

CDLXII - Old Havana


dVerse has the prompt 'write about a place'.


Old Havana.

An inner courtyard, draped in green;
A cooling, private place.
Beyond, the city is all go,
While trapped in time and space.

The people there seem cheerful:
Some swell with pride to show their cars
While others ensure that they are seen
With gaudy hats and big cigars.

The ghost of Hemmingway
Sits ever at the bar
While a pianist plays requests.
Outside,  a band plays in the park.
Music flows from every brick.

Sun sets. The people sit and talk.

There is a wall around the bay
Where lovers take a walk.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
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35 comments:

  1. J Cosmo, were you fortunate enough to see Havanna? I have heard Cuba is beautiful; but we from the US still can't travel there, I don't think. Gaudy hats and big cigars sound stereotypical, and I wonder if it is the way it really is. I am sure the ghost of Hemingway is everywhere there!!

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    1. True there is an element of stereotype but you would find there characters away from the main streets, just sitting and talking. Small jam sessions popped up down backstreets where no tourist was expected.

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    2. Thanks, JC. So I assume then you WERE fortunate enough to really be there at one point.

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  2. I would love to travel there one day ~ A city trapped in time and place ~

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    1. Go soon. Once the embargos lift and commercialism arrives it will become just another town.

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  3. nice...love the details you pocked out...the music exuding from even the bricks...everyone out to talk at sundown...that i would enjoy...and the lovers walk...and of course the ghost...smiles...well done...

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  4. I can live vicariously through this... such vivid detail and warm ambience exude from the page. Beautiful.

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  5. They should make a tourism ad from this

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    1. I would need to research it, to make sure that nothing had changed.

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  6. I loved that movie "Havana" even though critics panned it at the time. Those days of the old Havana have such romance of the most colourful kind attached to them. Hemingway, of course, helped in his writings.

    I enjoy this poem...thank you. :)

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  7. Lovely tone here as the music flows even from brick. Sounds like you were there.

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    1. 2010 - island hopping: Galapagos > Cuba > Ireland.

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  8. I would walk round the bay - smoking a big cigar and wearing a gaudy hat. Well, maybe, forget the big cigar.

    Anna :o]

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  9. This place sounds like a dream :)

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  10. i would like to see this =)

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  11. Lovely, as a film playing in my head.

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  12. You painted a perfect scene !!!

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  13. This makes me feel like I've been transported, J Cosmo.

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  14. Lovely - I'd like to visit Cuba!

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  15. Nice job developing a sense of place.

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  16. I enjoy the scene you have set up. I can see the people milling about. A universal scene i guess with added props to make it uniquely Havana.

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  17. Atmospheric scene and poem...

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  18. Ohh..that is so serene and peaceful. Even the hustle and bustle of people showing off..and then the comparison to a peaceful courtyard! That's how our memory about a place is stored !! :)

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  19. such a lovely and enticing picture your words paint. I love the idea of music flowing from every brick. ahh—and the ending is quite perfect.

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  20. So glad I journey here today ... I visited Havana in July 1959, before everything changed. It was a place of magic, just as you described.

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  21. I would love to go to Havana and walk with the ghost of Hemmingway. Lovely piece!

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  22. Damn it...now I want to spend the weekend there...sounds like my kind of place. Love the description. Great writing.

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  23. sounds of an interesting place, one place I have always dreamed to visit.

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  24. Ever since seeing footage with the old musicians of Havana, I've wanted to drink in the heritage, the melody, the sadness. All of it. Cos, one part hit me as especially true: Bragging about a car. It's SO much a part of the machismo in Latin circles. (one thing, sorry, it's "Hemingway" with one m, small point)

    Just loved this. And no mention of Castro, even better! Amy
    http://sharplittlepencil.com/2013/02/18/599-wheres-my-pencil/

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  25. You just presented the whole place...

    Loved it.

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  26. The ghost of Hemmingway
    Sits ever at the bar

    Certainly, you need this if it is about Old Havana. Nicely done.

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  27. Enchanting...I so want to go!
    Thanks for taking me there, even if for a few minutes ;D
    Well done!

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  28. You took us there. How lovely!

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  29. ..am catching up on last week's Cohen posts...I haven't been to Havana but other Latin American countries and I can imagine the music, walking in the parks in the evening, the sense of slow time and..Hemingway...nice;)

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