Comme un Poisson Hors de l'eau

Mid 20s on my own / making my way / through ancient zones / not really seeing / nor expanding what I’ve known.

Wine bar in the Bastille / a fish out of water / me, notebooks - lacking appeal / the waitress - poor teeth and ESL / but a bridge in the ordeal.

She made talk petite / asked where I was from / my hoped-for romance secrète / seemed to be going strong / then three words in a French bleat.

Laughter erupted from benches and bar / through fractured words she assured / the bartender meant no harm / I took no offense / from camaraderie’s spar.

How often had they felt the invasion / of the other in the City of Light / having to rise to the occasion / denied a softer path to the grave / and beauty their leisure minds have won.

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In my 20s I took a trip alone to Paris. It was amazing in so many ways but surely not the trip I had pictured in my mind (there would be love and wine...lots of love and wine for this young American writer). This incident always makes me laugh because it was me in a neighborhood wine bar so out of my depth and lacking a single word of French to improve my chances. I've gone back a few times but had the good sesnse to bring my partner who is on the edge of fluent.