or maybe just the thrushes, their pecks. Paris, 1940.
Les Boches have lined up our Gauloises & shot them.
Plus the internet hasn’t even been invented.
Klaus thinks Feminism is all about the Jews.
Who said monstrosity can’t be flexible –
those Aufseherinnen –
given a real job by clueless men but
Women in Uniforms, they get ideas.
As America undergoes a talking-to
intrepid British spies bugger each other
like tertiary educations.
Kristallnacht is a brand of champagne – everything makes sense
if you forget hard enough.
Pétain has been reading about Panama he
has niggles about the mosquito problem, the heat,
that way pianos so easily warp into jazz
when accosted by humidity.
There is a war, sacrifice is the fuel
so he gives up worrying.
Paris must be preserved!
Think of all the movies to come
Hepburn, Marlon, Woody, Kate Hudson.
The last lies are progress,
77 years later
arthritis has spread to the Arc de Triomphe
& Europe can no longer promise home to
those across ex-colonies as they
flee grand plans imposed on them.
Such ingratitude, thank god it sticks in their throats.
Photo credit: Susan Adams
Les Wicks has toured widely and seen publication in over 350 different magazines, anthologies & newspapers across 28 countries in 13 languages. His 13th book of poetry is Getting By Not Fitting In (Island, 2016). Find more from Les here.