Poetry Corner Paris

Landscape by Jeremy Reed

I want a loft or penthouse in the sky

a Nasa telescope sighting the stars

a space to write up high full of white noise

above the canyoned avenues of cars,

and wake to view sky lounges in a tower,

cranes masting asymmetric office blocks,

a reconstructed Paris, a wide sky

inspiring me with blue wave-patterned shocks.

I light up watching evening stars come on

a lamp behind me, pollution outside

and full on through the haze a gritty moon

with footprints on it, just 3 days away-

I travel there when I do opium

and watch the seasons, spring summer and fall

arrive as differentials before snow

crushes diamonds into my balcony.

And dream of gardens, bluish cloud platforms,

fountains sliced into alabaster basins,

unseasonal bird song, lover’s positions,

winter’s imaginary topology

like pure hallucination. And when rain

slashes the window I’ll keep at my desk

submerged in moody introspective pleasure

inventing spring, a gold sun in my mind

torching-up a sexy charged atmosphere.