Bill Broady
On the bridge
On the Pont Mirabeau,
From which Paul Celan
Jumped in 1970,
I refuse to wave back to
Jeering kids on the Bateau-Mouche--
A Green on Red school party that
Weirdly dogs me through Paris:
Who takes ten year olds to Baselitz shows
Or down La Huchette at dawn?
I’ve been here half an hour:
Six raindrops have fallen,
Three suns have come and gone.
My body’s numb except my
Elbows on the parapet:
Its stone has frozen my heart
Or my heart has frozen the stone.
I try to recall “Todesfuge”-
“Dein aschenes Haar Sulamith”-
But all I can think of is
The blonde bob of a girl
400 miles north-north-west
Into whose orifices
I will never again discharge.
I’m sick of this scene and Dasein…
But there’s a notice in
Seventeen languages:
“Mother Seine welcomes poets and
Wasters, but no poetasters”.
Most likely I’d trampoline
Off her glassy surface
Or float like Ophelia
Among the cans and shit.
A boy with ripped ear-lobes
Moves closer to me, eyes
Reflecting the dark waters,
Acne matching his
Distressed leather jacket.
He sighs like a departing soul--
“Ah! Paul Celan! Paul Celan!”
Then makes a grab at my Pentax.
Page(s) 63
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