POETRY KITe ANTHOLOGY

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..............in Paris

. . . arise at dawn from
foam rubber blue pillow
pink blanket piss flush
brush teeth – miss the feel
of rush mats underfoot as
in London – but never mind
that – I may be a Londoner
but this is Paris – down the
stairs jumping 3-at-a-time
out to the forecourt – ‘Good-
Day Sunshine’ – ask young girls –
student couples – restaurateurs
opening their doors for breakfast
– for directions – fart belch
buy croissant & apple turnover –
munch in streets (‘a small turn-
over’) – read messages on walls
wind way through streets wide &
narrow – just noticing mosaic
of cobbles on streets – historic
architectures of church & lion’s
mouths & classic statues –
bleach & iron smocked nuns in
convent vestibules – flamboyant
sexy walks of Paris business-ladies
lines from the past – ‘A l’ombre
des arbres et jeunes filles’ –
fall on grass in Luxembourg
Gardens tall trees & voices
in them laugh & rustle
their skirts & leaves
– so young – so green
‘Les lauriers sont coupés’
– the garden of love
open & seen – flowers toss
their heads in the breeze
– young lovers swing
their hips – I sneeze
for the earth is full
of sky today – & the sky
replete with sun – & birds
quietly jingling – their beaks
still snatching the
last shreds of night
plying darker lines of melody
across the dazzling noonday light . . .


from Wordsounds & Sightlines (1994),
reprinted with kind permission of the author

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