Alessandra Francesca
The Best Place to Not See Paris
The best place to not see Paris
is in the doctor’s office.
In the swollen heat of a July afternoon,
in a room without air-conditioning
The walk from the inn leads you past
the Église de la Sainte-Trinité
Consider praying for rain.
Consider baptism for the swimming.
Even your organs sweat
They whisper threats
of revolt.
They storm the Bastille
of your bones.
They say,
Take us home.
They ask,
What did you swallow?
In the kitchen,
The innkeeper
Picks up the telephone
Her voice carries into the next room.
A rough translation:
“I have a small, adorable, American
With a large, not adorable eye.”
She asks you,
Tomorrow eez uur appee ber-fday?
Zey veel Zink ee give you zee black eye?
You say
Yes. No. Wait I meant.
You say
I am immune-compromised
I am immune promised.
You point to the offending eye.
You say
This is just my body.
They don’t have shelters for women like me.
Alessandra Francesca is inspired by a range of artists, from T.S. Eliot to Humphrey Bogart. She has featured at several NYC Poetry readings, including Phillip Giambri’s Rimes of the Ancient Mariner, What the Hell is Love? and Great Weather For Media’s Spoken Word Sundays. She represented Mike Geffner’s The Inspired Word at the first 3Po3try NYC event. A featured reader in the Brownstone Poets series, her poem “Trashbag Full of Diamonds” was published in their annual anthology. Alessandra lives in Brooklyn. You can read more of her work by visiting her website, www.ilsaseeksrick.com.