Annika Grill

composing and writing is my thing...

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Nice article for tomorrow's documentary on ARTE at 17:35 ! "Afrique du Sud, portraits chromatiques" by Nathalie Masduraud and Valerie Urrea soundtrack by Annika And The Forest...

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Angels

La Clinique du Trocadero, 75016 Paris, France

There is no wind, yet the light hitting the yellow curtains seems to move as though the sun were moving from left to right, right to left. Large clock no sound. I am waiting to get out. There are no windows, just green hallways: a labarynth, and only an angel dressed in white can guide the way out. Until then I’m stuck in time. Again.

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Snow

Pizza Clipp, 75020 Paris, France There's something utterly beautiful when Paris is snowing because it´s rare and it´s perfect : Thin layers of white whip the night then lies there and melts all at once. There's no time to suck the dirt off the roads, and we all just slow down, and it does us so much fucking good to slow down. Nothing is as romantic as right here right now in this scuffy little pizzeria which has the best pizzas ever and we're not many who know it so we always have our constantly switched seats 'cause the owner probably likes to see us diffrently every now and then, and we're home. This is my home. You are my home.

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GOLD

La Guinguette de Neuilly, 12 Boulevard Georges Seurat, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine

Your heals are high and you hold your thin cigarette with your wrist gently pouched over, classy really, except you leave the table whilst smoking. Not that I haven’t, but I was taught one shouldn’t walk and smoke. You have a glittering smile and it looks like life has given you exactly what you asked for. Your husband  wears sunglasses, as do you. He has fine white hair, as have you, and a cigar shaking at the end of his fingers. He walks proudly and the two of you look like you are celebrating still being alive. You are dressed in black even though the sun is hitting 35 degrees celsius and your sunglasses are the only thing that go to show for it. Did you just start smoking again? Did your husband ever cheat on you? Were you always this happy? Is your husband as happy as you are? Did he get everything he wanted? No matter really… you look like gold to me. 

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LEOPARD SKIN

‘le Dalou’, 30 Place de la Nation, 75012 Paris, France

There are times in life (and it doesn't necessarily have to do with age nor does it necessarily remain permanent) where one hits the point of "still having sex" and showing it, "still having sex" and not showing, "not having sex" obviously, and "wanting sex desperately". I only mention this because I am trying to understand why the leopard textile is an all timer all ages used sign of "sex, and I want it now". Women wearing this type of suited animal gear are between their 50s, 60s sometimes 40s, and 30s happens, and I think that's when the leopard thing is suposed to look good and that's what it seems the next decades are aiming for in the sexual energy field. I always wonder wether these women are single, newly divorced, newly wed?, or if they just have that married lover and the pressure of desire: showing off what they have to hide what they don't. Anyways, there you are. Again. Gold bracelet (rich lover?), 'plateau de fruit de mer' in a chic, not too chic, bistro, ... ladies lunch out. And I wonder. 

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The Medal

'l'Arc', 12 rue du Presbourg, 75116 Paris

You're like a little girl, you're like a little girl. Smiling, almost crying, joy and creative energy bouncing all around sweeping anyone close to you from their ground round and round 'till they let themselves fall flat on the ground and stare at the sky, the clouds? Are there any clouds in your sky? Of course there are. But my god you spin the earth beneath your feet whilst you smile. And you cry. Probably because nobody knows why. But you do, don't you?

You are wearing a medal of honor. For real. Like a child that wins a prize you just won the "chevalier de l'ordre du mérite", and you thanked your full surrounding, all those people that astound you and that don't astound themselves. But hey, that's why you're wearing the medal. 

Short hair,  short dress; navy blue. Pinned light blue, real and perfectly heavy, "chevalier de l'ordre du mérite" medal. Pink, fake? leather jacket; really pink. Cute. Real cute.

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COLOR ME BLACK

‘LE 50’, 50 rue de Lancry, Paris, France

Your eye is black, so is mine one day after Valentine’s (in my book), only yours is as visible as a black hole. You look intensely… empty and whole all at once. The girl opposite you seems to trust you fully. I don’t trust you one bit. Appearances aside, maybe you’re a real truthful kind of guy. But these days I seem to duck my head way too late every single time I get hit by a lie, or any kind of negative surprise of anger. Maybe you’d actually do me good because your colors are already out on the table and I’d put up my fists to my face and pout down in front of you instead of just getting beat. At least I’d try to protect myself. Sorry. As I said. You’re probably really nice. And I’m way off grid when it comes to seeing anything truthfully “nice” as well as ... the opposite of nice. It seems I have a long way to go before I sit down in front of someone like you like someone like the girl opposite you. Or whatever it is I'll be sitting in front of. Or the opposite... 

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OPPOSITES

‘L’ange Gardien’, 189 rue des pyrénées, 75020 Paris

You wear a light blue shirt, grey well combed hair, a smile and that thick, bright, orange key holder around your neck as though you were wishing you had a master and you were the slave. Opposite a gay couple behind them another, younger, gay couple and to your right, us, lesbian couple. (And this is not a gay restaurant. It just happens sometimes.) Next to you a woman that I hope to resemble some day because she’s so beautiful. She wears a round watch, you wear a square watch. Hers is gold, yours is silver. Lots of people probably think you’re a couple. And although I presume you’re just really good friends. Maybe you are a couple. A pearl necklace and bright orange key holder couple. And maybe you’ve been a couple for years and years because opposites attract and sometimes opposites last longer… Sometimes. Sometimes opposites give more that’s for sure. Whatever. I’ll eat my meat whilst my girlfriend eats fish and we’ll live happily ever after.

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STARS

‘Le Café’, 62 Rue Montmartre, 75002 Paris

The stars were bright that night, and they were all out. I don’t remember the moon, but I remember you. I ran up the hill just to call you; reached for the sky just to get to you. Funny thing was you did the same. Our phones made us silly and you had to go stand under some tree on a hill. I asked you to watch the sky. I tried not to sound too romantic about it. But in between all that fright, this was just the night. And those were our stars for us to see. I didn’t know how long they would last, nor how long we would last. And now the rain is falling like on some beautiful African night and you’re sitting right across from me. You’re still here.