Thursday, August 7, 2008: On the Street...Masha, Soho

Take Masha, for instance.
She cut seven inches
From her long hair
In her bathroom at home.

Or you, for that matter,
Who quit smoking last year
After a decade.

Or how bout that guy
Who was in a coma
For thirteen years
And one day woke up?

Wednesday, August 6, 2008: On the Street... Structured Jacket and Shorts, Paris

We march to work wearing authority:
Jackets, shiny watches, folders, red pens.

Our shoes clip-clopping, signalling through sound
That we mean business. In youth, we learned about

Hard soles clacking in crescendo:
Shh...the teacher’s coming back!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008: On the Street...Graceful Steps Paris

I studied the geometry of her frame:
Shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, wrist
To fingertip. She had her bones well-trained

To wrap and fold around like they were wings.
When she left for good I made a list
Of her proportions, and folded up her things.

Monday, August 4, 2008: On the Street...Young and in Paris

Underpinnings overlap with outerwear,
straps stripe their shoulders.
Laces slowly untie themselves
in the well-worn shoes of teenage girls.

Saturday, August 2, 2008: At Louis Vuitton, Paris

Masculine
A tilt of the head,
A thrust forward jaw,
Thick silver chain,
Gabardine jacket.

Feminine
Limbs held close to the body, crossed.
Slim slump of the shoulders.
Lacquered red lips.