Who is the man walking under the bridge?
This is Vincent O. Carter, who came to Bern from Kansas City, Missouri, and decided to live here as a writer.
rssHe published the “Bern Book A Record of a Voyage of the Mind”. Somehow, the book fell into my hands during the pandemic. His descriptions of the plight of an impoverished and lonely writer, whom everyone keeps asking, “Why did you, a black man born in America, come to Bern?” didn't leave me untouched.
The diary of a lonely soul
At that time, I was living almost under the Kirchenfeld Bridge and, during the pandemic, I often walked under the beautiful bridge on Aarstrasse, remembering how I used to watch a dance performance by öff öff Production as a child.
All the spectators sat or lay on the sports field under the bridge and watched the dance, which took place under and on the bridge. The dancers swung back and forth on ropes, rappelled down, or climbed back up.
During the performance, there was an artist who walked very slowly in the background along the underside of the bridge arch.
The way home
Maybe I loved the Kirchenfeld Bridge so much because it was the first thing I learned to love in the city. And because I had to cross it so often (...) And probably I loved it also because there is no such pretty little bridge in Kansas City.
So this lonely person walked across that bridge day in, day out to his attic room in Kirchenfeld.
And during the lockdown in the pandemic, countless people walked across the bridge and under the bridge. No plans for the future. Just one day after another.
