paris

is the city of love, they tell me
joie de vivre

you'd think it would be easy to write poetry here
wouldn't you?
but it isn't; i find it rather difficult
perhaps i'm not a romantic
--that's why i never loved you

but paris, i find
instead is a city
full of things to look at
but only once (they never change)
and so every time we come here
i imagine it is the first time, and
have to pretend
that i do

but what
what what is tourism (a lot like colonialism, thematically
speaking)

a tourist
is a pair of eyes, and perhaps a camera
that learns nothing new from having conquered
each one
takes up a little more space

for every tourist on the streets above
forces one more native underground
to ride the streets below
and come a little closer
to melting back to dust