Black Sea

• Prize
  Gold in Book/People
• Photographer
  Isabella Sommati

Summer heat, muggy weather, today is Sunday. The sea is far away, beaches are crowded, gasoline is too expensive, we can’t get away from the city. If we stay home, we would end up watching Formula One on TV, sleeping on the couch, sweating like pigs, empty beer cans on the floor, saliva dripping from the left side of the mouth. We need to go out during summer, have fun with friends, see some boobs and get drunk. In summer we fall in love and messages sound louder in empty streets; then we break up and the phone turns silent again. In summer we are in a good mood, the sky is clear, the sun is warm, it’s time to get tanned, even if the sun burns, we must escape to the nearest swimming pool, just thongs and caps, Sunday must begin! But in summer the sea is black despite the chlorine, the sky is black despite the sun, concrete is black, the sea gull is black, our skin is black, the bitterness in our throat is black, this ridiculous dream of escaping is black, the Sunday we spent looking inside ourself is black, and slowly, the black sea is swallowing us.