Will You Be Suspect

Someone might arrive soon
accompanied with the need to sit or stand,
hushing the crowd in all its distractions:
the mouthing, throat clearings, whole stares
riddled in and exhaling expectations-
which brings us to, who comes close to you?

After all, sex is witness even where
exception leveled an island
and became the center of a town.
On my roof stands a girl just like me
looking at her own lost city
imagining another version nearly. Except
I also throw circus flyers at your feet.

_________________

Once in France

In the middle of Notre Dame, I disappeared.
I forgot to remember myself, to propel myself
as though vastness and structure could undo
the beginnings of sight. I awoke last night
and could not place the universe. No scent,
lamp, person beside me hummed into memory
whispering some familiar tune. I stumbled
to the street below and answered the payphone.

The voice of France offered help not in French,
"The arches are supports of earlier churches;
the universe is a feat in motion. The scents
and the lamp applaud direction undesignated.
You are plus one contingent in this cycle of spaces-
you may remain on the line, dial a number
or supplement the person you left behind.
These are but a few in a segue of options."