To the Women of France

Un

Nature is calling me and I need a hike

Maybe you would like to go on one too?

People tend to feel more comfortable

Away from all the franchised rules and obtrusive cameras,

Cameras that won’t stop a bullet

But may be used to assure the gunman is guilty and punished

And this will hopefully make me feel more comfortable

About getting shot

Deux

There are a lot of parks in Paris

But that is far from where I am

Making it extremely unlikely

That on my nature hike

I will come across a young French woman,

A recent graduate of L’Université

Nervous about her internship

And looking for someone to talk to,

Someone young enough to excite her

But someone old enough to long with her

For the sweet France of yore

Trois

I know I am not perfect

If I am twenty-eight now, I have said,

“Sorry, I would but it’s my birthday” thirty-one times

And I know that equals out to a few lies

But I do have the presence of mind to know

That you are as beautiful as art

And art and husbands do not go together

So if you see the camera footage of me

Getting shot on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais

On a day I should have been back home,

hiking in the woods behind my house

I want you to know as I lie on the curb

Covered in blood,

And my awkward tourist fanny pack

Overflowing with museum receipts

That for you in my heart,

There was only love