I confess that these are false memories
as I’ve never been to the Paris’ and it’s
arrondissements, and these days, I avoid
air travel what with climate change.
Yet the name evokes places and times
which filled my imagination with wonder
at the tales of Mme. Cabot would tell our
high school French class on her good days.
All this has come back to me because
I’m in the Paris section of my online
cours de français, where I vacillate
between obsidian and pearl levels
depending on my work frequency.
And though you couldn’t accuse me
of Hypermnesia, the art, literature and
songs of Montmartre, pendant La Belle Époque
have seeped into my temporal lobe and
brightened my grey matter.
But with the war in the Ukraine,
it also reminds me that in 1940,
the Montmartre fuel depot bombing
inspired the people of Paris in their
resistance to the Nazi occupation.
Bernadette, ex-midinette,
now leaving Paris:
shop-girl day before.
Paris takes long time to leave,
with all the arrondissements...
Bernadette, ex-midinette
swaps shop-girl airs
for country air.
Paris now seen distantly:
the Eiffel Tower.
Perfect future lies in front
near Lille, or similar.
Shop-girl the day before.
Tells me not to harp on this
and holds up middle finger.
***************************
A midinette is a Parisian shop-girl.
5/1/2015
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