Only One First Day in Paris

Hotel des Artes elevator, Montmarte

Only one Parisian is rude

at the information desk at the Abbesses Metro Station

and I think she wasn’t born here.

Only me eating duck de l’orange

in a pub where holiday Parisians eat cheeseburgers and fries

with forks and knives.

Only one drop down seat

covers two 6-packs of 1 litre water with gas on the Montmarte bus.

I take the seat and try to find bearings

through foggy windows to no avail.

Only me wearing a beret

bought at Hudson’s Bay with concentric circular silver studs

while multitudes walk bare headed or under umbrellas

in the City of Fashion.

Only one rue de Tholoze to succour me tonight

in the City of Lights.

Strangely I am satisfied with the pub and arts hotel

with Van Goth painted on the elevator door.

VG 05-20-2013