Rui Knopfli
To Paris
My Paris is Johannesburg,
a Paris certainly less bright,
cheaper and more provincial.
But Johannesburg reminds me
of the Paris I’ve never known:
the same mad rush, the traffic cop’s white gloves
the shining show windows of shops
the fashionable colours, the same lovers
shamelessly embracing on the benches
of sunny pavements, the Seine
that isn’t there and the Eiffel Tower
that isn’t either. Here I buy myself
banned books and see the latest
Antonioni. Here I’m your genuine
foreign tourist, greedy for surprise.
At night I dine at the Montparnasse
in Hillbrow, the local Latin Quarter,
gazing at women who are strange
and very beautiful in sweaters and Helanca slacks
at bearded beatniks
who are weird and hideously ugly,
all with the sincere and unconvincing look
of “made in the USA”.
I also gaze at the young men with ash-coloured eyelids
who have the mannerisms and sad look
of those who live in sexual perplexity.
After my Turkish coffee I make my way
to the Cul de Sac and sit there
listening to the marvellous sax
of Kippie Moeketsi. The jazz, at least,
is real and has a wholly local beat.
The neon lights and silent dawn
the glistening tarmac,
the early morning light, the glow
of advertising signs, my solitude,
would be just the same in Paris.
Here no one knows who I am,
here my importance is nil.
As it is in Paris.
Translated by Suzette Macedo
Page(s) 192-193
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- Second Aeon
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- Shearsman
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