Girl Smoking a Gauloise in the Rain

Faute De Mieux

A plump peacock looks down

from a gilt framed painting

over the bar, the tail spreads

like Rochefoucauld descending

a stairs.

I'm drunk as a Rahv.

Rain streaks the window clean

as a resting tiger.

Along the Rue Madeleine

a girl I know to be naked under

a raincoat lights a Gauloise.

Her eyes painted like a Saturn ring.

She'll spend the night in a poem.

Tomorrow I'll clear out, take that job

with the Tribune.

A flic looks in, time to close

this salon of talking parrots who failed

to fly south.

A radio tune, Ja-Da.  News and reports

of displaced persons.  My name is given,

then yours.  The weather forecast says

I've seen the last of you.