What Am I Ever Going To Do In Paris

I want to revisit
gay Paris
where I spent
my misspent youth
studying at
the Sorbonne and
sundry faculties of
the University of Paris
Oriental Languages
Political Science
Phonetics
French
Historty
Art
Cinema
Falling in love

I want to be
twenty one again
I want to fall asleep
and wake up with
a full head of hair
a disease free and
pain free body
a youthful libido
money in my pocket

Not to mention
hours on end wandering
the hallowed halls of
The Louvre
Boulevard St. Michelle
Montparnasse
Rue Moufftarde
Notre Dame Cathedral
Garden de Luxembourg
Champs Elysee
Place du Lion
General LeClerc
Ile de la Cite
shopping all day
at Bon Marche and
Le Printemps
riding the Metro
Gare du Lyon
Orly
Charles de Gaulle
Boulevard Peripherique
Quartier Latin

I would like to again taste
Crepe Suzette
Sandwich Jambon
munch on a
creamy Camembert and
freshly baked baguette
sip some wine
smoke Gitanes
sip cognac
sit for hours
at sidewalk cafes
reading
Baudlaire
Mauriac
Verlaine
Camus
Sartre
Moliere
Shakespeare
Le Figaro
Le Monde
Le Canard Enchaine
Cahiers de Cinema

I would like to
chase the ghosts of
lovers long lost
along the quays of
Le Seine
watching the
bateau mouche
float serenely beneath
Le Pont Neuf
to once again enjoy
the view from the top of
the Eiffel Tower

I want to once again
spend hours
haunting the old
movie theatres
in the old banlieus
watching
Godard
Renais
Belmondo
Jean Seberg
Catherine Deneuve
Depardieu
Jacques Tati
Jerry Lewis
Belle de Jour
A Nous La Liberte
A Bout de Souffle

Should the good fortune
ever again befall me
what ever am I
going to do in Paris?

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

What Is Poetry?

Poetry is the way
our species
collectively
learns how
to howl
at the moon

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013