Paris is my Mistress
ahh my mistress whispers in my ear…
church bells resonating softly on fountains renowned
eclipsing our retreat with soundless sound

Religious Happening
left right left right
flaring bugle throbbing drum christians marching onwards
left right left right

Markets/Marche
each spring I unwaveringly believe anew
that the vegetables of tomorrow
are in the seeds of yesterday

Paris Artists at Rest
scattered plane tree leaves
dead flowers candles metro tickets poems
seeds resting on various sarcophagi

Pompeii
AD 79 Vesuvius a simmering underground volcano
cauldron heat regurgitating with molten force
volcanic ash pumice toxic gases asphyxiated
lava-burned and buried the provincial Roman town of Pompeii
60 feet of ash fell in air thick as dirt to plant a fig tree
drowning freezing in time people animals a way of life
all died where they stood