It is not hard to avoid love
I can do it with my eyes closed
It’s the same skill required
In not writing a poem
After a little practice
You too will become good at both
I have not written a lot of poetry
Just as I have not loved a lot of people
And those are not just clever phrases
I really have not done these things
In the Summer of 2007
I lay on the bed beside an opened window
In the Hotel de Nesle
In the heart of Paris
After my daughter and I had gelato
In the hotel courtyard…
I was half awake
But my most vivid memory
From Paris was the sound of
Delivery trucks in the alley
Outside that window
To my ears the trucks were French
And words I could not understand
Wafted up from the street
No doubt, under this influence
I would have fallen
In love with the next flower
Or work of art, I saw
To say nothing of an unsuspecting person
But after I awakened, my daughter and I
Talked a while and then we went out
And a motorcycle ran over her shoe
On the sidewalk and she said
I did not show proper concern
For her foot and so we argued
Instead of me seeing art or life
And falling in love
We spent that evening walking
The streets of Paris
And I never wrote a poem either
So, in one trip to Paris
I am now an authority
On how to not fall in love
And to not write a poem
All it takes is a mild diversion
Allied with a sense of urgency
That’s it,
If you live distracted and in a frenzy
You will never fall in love
And you will never write a poem
But you may make a lot of money
Or win fame and fortune
Which would serve you right
