Under the Influence (A poetic after the cellist on Place des Vosges) by Andrena Zawinski Here. Take this photograph. It is Paris. There. There is a woman turning sheets of paged music. Look. She’s getting ready, her legs hugging the cello bottom, fingers poised at the polished sleek of its neck. Listen. A wheeze andContinue reading “Under the Influence by Andrena Zawinski”
Category Archives: France
Impressions en Plein Air by Andrena Zawinski
Impressions en Plein Air (From Flight 2199, regarding Monet) by Andrena Zawinski Far above the street scene graffiti of Paris, I think of you, Monet, from the air up here flying this sea foam sky, a shelf of waves against a floor of mist breaking open in patches of blue and white. And I, likeContinue reading “Impressions en Plein Air by Andrena Zawinski”
Belief by Laura Foley
Belief by Laura Foley Walking the endless Meseta, we turn to see yellow broom flowers, orange poppies going by— the only way to know these pilgrims’ progress. Each night, an ancient town new to us, steps closer to our journey’s end— we feel no mystic pull toward Santiago, but we believe in the awe ofContinue reading “Belief by Laura Foley”
Paris Stories: Two by Diana Rosen
Paris Stories: Twoby Diana Rosen On our way to somewhere else, noon timeGregorian chants draw us into Notre Dameanother mystical moment possible only whenyou leave the guidebook in your hotel room.We light candles, “just in case,” then visitMémorial des Martyrs de la Déportationthe cryptically named homage to 200,000martyrs deported from Vichy Franceto the Camps ofContinue reading “Paris Stories: Two by Diana Rosen”
We Have Traveled Here by Andrena Zawinski
We Have Traveled Here Le Tréport de la Mer, Normandie by Andrena Zawinski All along the line these villages blossom with poppies, sheep and ponies graze backyards, the cows are down for rain. And a couple poses tied up in lacy bows among the jonquil and nasturtium for photographers on their wedding day as weContinue reading “We Have Traveled Here by Andrena Zawinski”
French Postcards by Andrena Zawinski
French Postcards by Andrena Zawinski 1. This picture is for you of the café where I rested on the long walk from Tour Eiffel to Notre Dame, and here is another of the Louvre, with a view from the other side of the river. Tonight, nibbling at the last of the boulanger’s stiff baguette andContinue reading “French Postcards by Andrena Zawinski”
Paris Stories: One by Diana Rosen
Paris Stories: One by Diana Rosen On the lush green slope to the side of Cimetière du Père-Lachaise where the crumbling concrete tombstones of Molière, Colette, Hugo rest, I find myself seriously Lost, wave down a solitary figure to whom I plead, “Sortie, s’il vous plaît, sortie,” cobbled from the words for Please (a mustContinue reading “Paris Stories: One by Diana Rosen”
January in Paris by Billy Collins
January in Paris by Billy Collins A poem is never finished, only abandoned. —Paul Valéry That winter I had nothing to do but tend the kettle in my shuttered room on the top floor of a pensione near a cemetery, but I would sometimes descend the stairs, unlock my bicycle, and pedal along the coldContinue reading “January in Paris by Billy Collins”
Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs
Searching for Arborglyphs by Robert N. Coats In the Jarbidge Range, my seventeenth year, I drove up dusty dirt roads, across clanging cattle guards, hiked into high meadows and aspen groves. There I found the spot where in 1929, Efrain Madariaga of Iparralde, Spain scribed his name, and a record of his loneliness and desire:Continue reading “Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs”
December 1991 by David Hare
December 1991 by David Hare She drove me to Trouville in her black Volkswagen droptop Leaving Paris early by the Peripherique and getting there by noon There was frost even on the inside of the slanted back window And the laughable so-called heater pretty soon Gave out. The tyres rocked on the brittle brown concrete.Continue reading “December 1991 by David Hare”
POETRY and PLACES 