What makes Argia different from other cities is that it has earth instead of air. The streets are completely filled with dirt, clay packs the rooms to the ceiling . . . From up here, nothing of Argia can be seen; some say, “It’s down below there,” and we can only believe them. . . . At night, putting your ear to the ground, you can sometimes hear a door slam.
—Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
It had been ten years since I had invaded Iraq, armed and dressed to look like dirt. I pulled out my new map of the country as a…
