A poet in Paris — two poems by Steve Dalachinsky

 

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Steve Dalachinsky, a New York poet whose work is often published on Jerry Jazz Musician, is currently in Paris, and contributes two timely poems just written from there…

 

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paris why do i love you?

your air smells like children chasing
pigeons
“PAPA” i hear in the distance / sacre couer
crying its heart out / covering my heart
open air market / gratin
le Oiseaux a tiny invisible bird
chirping above the cafe
near 39 blvd rochechouart
the grey cold of this day
dampened by invisible raindrops
hitting my nose
this foreign language/filth
the sun of tomorrow
becoming….

o why is a mystery
never solved?
cock-eyed april hunger
pangs
sunset @ lamarck

paris
i can’t pretend anymore that
i love you…& yet

….please put out this fire
in my soul

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a pale moon

there is a pale moon in the early evening sky
the book sellers are out on the left bank
people taking selfies with the spires
the stone as always stone
aside from the scaffolding in the back
where the worse damage occurred
no one would be the wiser
if you hadn’t seen it before
you wouldn’t know the difference
the red bus blocks my view for the
moment
some discuss the situation in
earnest
others stare blankly
i overhear the fragment
“…so more important taking a selfie
in front of every historical monument…”
the trees are still intact
behind the church
a barrage of cherry blossoms
rise up

the bookstore with its stained glass
has expanded and is as crowded as ever
pink blossoms cling to the curb
mingling with cobble stones

a ways up
shriveled up
she sits
thin hungry old woman
against a wall
near rue st. joseph.

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dalachinsky paris 4/19

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Steve Dalachinsky is a New York downtown poet. He is active in the poetry, music, art, and free jazz scene. Dalachinsky’s main influences are the Beats, William Blake, The Odyssey, obsession, socio-political angst, human disappointment, music (especially Jazz), and visual art with leanings toward abstraction. Dalachinsky’s books include A Superintendent’s Eyes (Hozomeen Press 2000), his PEN Award Winning book The Final Nite & Other Poems: Complete Notes From A Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006 (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2006), a compendium of poetry written while watching saxophonist Charles Gayle perform throughout New York City in that time period, and Logos and Language, co-authored with pianist Matthew Shipp (RogueArt 2008) and Reaching Into The Unknown, a collaboration with French photographer Jacques Bisceglia (RogueArt 2009).

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For a complete biography, visit his Wikipedia page.

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