This post is in answer to Research Girl’s request for another Paris -in -the -70s Journal Entry. Today is the anniversary of the unearthing of Tutankhamen at Luxor in 1923.
Likewise, I have unearthed the first notebook from Christina’s Crypt.
This is Paris - Also.
Old man stretched out on a bench.
Yellow skin, wrinkled in yesterday’s newspaper.
His eyes are dying into white slits.
Then flutter open for an instant.
A road map of red streaks leading to
Blue-gray pupils, sugared with wine.
Fogged in daydreams of soft.
Pink woman sunset au bord de la mer.
Legs hanging over his shoulders.
Sea foam at her breasts, he
Is vomiting and finds a corner to
Unzip pants and urinate against
Red tile, the urine trickling down
Cross the Metro ramp, the scent,
Dead fish and Camembert
Wrapped in more old news.
Fur-coated, a woman passerby, passes
By, circling her booted legs around,
The piss all around, and all along
Plugs her nose, wondering to herself,
When did the city turn filthy?
She recalls a childhood in the parks,
On Sundays, and visits to the bakery
With grandmother and flowers.
She is hurrying somewhere.
For more good things.
A husband and new boots.
{ 2 comments }
Thank You! This is really great stuff. Perhaps Christina’s Crypt should be published in hard copy.
As in book? Do editors still publish books these days? I am just finishing the last chapter of Sideways when the agent gives Miles the kiss-off.
‘there are many great books that never get published, Miles’.
Thank the Lord for great Burgundies!!!
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