traveling four countries in one day

suitcase wheels hit the cobbles at 5:45 a.m. in Holland,
onto a train platform and off, up stairs and down
we wait eating chocolate croissants.
middle school giggles punctuated by stern rebukes
sleeping through two hours Liege (Belgium) to Paris Nord.
RER B ticket machines don't take American credit
ok I'll take cashews with those to eat on the platform
for my 30 minutes to Charles de Gaulle, wait let me
catch one more train before my feet leave the ground
for Reyjkavik, oh don't tell me the International Terminal
is so far away, we lift our bags onto a bus,
a mini-bus, a walk, a dinner, now 10:30 p.m.,
make that midnight, a good day's work in this
traveling game.

Being sick along the Seine

Our boat on the Seine
slipping lovely and  languorous,
dragons  in the dusk gazing out
cameras clicking capturing
I cough on the Seine.
Parisians passing en parlant,
smoke endlessly spiraling upwards,
clouds of it coalesce in my coughing
endless coughing along boulevards,
at cafes, au restaurant, in the shop
after syrups, sachets, and sprays
ca ne change rien,
I cough along the Seine.

fellow traveler

the red headed guy with the gap between his front teeth
standing there smiling at me, inviting me to look at the schedule
to see where the lines of our lives might cross and run together
where we would watch boats float up and down at each lock along the canal,
he would race back to find my panier which bounced off on a rough spot back there.
he would get me extra boxes of kleenex in Paris while I coughed in bed
and I'd promise to look for some one to speak English to his eager ears.
we are listening to bad music here, as well as the good, and he watches
a man outside the burnt out church shepard in potential donors to make
the world a better place.
this guy with the gap between his teeth standing next to the sign makes
the world a better place.

La Salle d'Attente au Medicin

Ils etaient douze, touts dans leur monde a eux
tout dans leurs chaises en cercle, ils ne se regardent pas
sauf quand le docteur vient pour chercher quelqu'un.
Ils elevent leurs tetes pour voir si c'est eux qu'il cherche.
Moi, je viens a la salle d'attente, aucune idea comment ca
marche ici, en France,avec les docteurs.
Je leur dit, "Comment ca marche ici?"
Tout le monde se reveille pour me dire,
"oh, nous avons attendu depuis 8 h"
"il y a seulement un docteur"
"il vient tout les quanze minutes"
"on ne peut pas partir"
"il n'y a pas un liste"
J'ai compte douze, quinze minutes pour chacun,
ca fait trois heures.
Je partais en disant a tout le monde
Moi, je peux au moins marcher!
Nous,  les Americains, nous continuons
quand meme, si on peut marcher!
Bonne journee a tout, bonne sante!!
Ils on repondu,
Bonne chance, jolie Americaine,
Nous sommes avec vous!

Les Cousins

 

Nous avons mange le fromage
bien sur le fromage, le fondue
bien sur du pain, on a bu du vin,
bien sur le fromage, du pain et du vin
nous, nous les sept cousins,
Christine, Fonet, Jacques,
Sebastian, Jean-Phillipe, Olivier
et moi,
et aussi, l'Americain que sourit
la langue de tous les gens, n'importe
quoi langue ils parlent,
la langue qui demande un sourit
en reponse.

a surprise visit to see friends in Gruyere

seven years.
wasn't it just yesterday when your hair
was blonde and my son a gangly teenager,
you picked up the phone so happy to hear from me
as if I was there yesterday, a blonde American from Montana
with three little kids who didn't speak French so well as this one
it was seven years ago and when you hung up you knew this
call was not that Jenny,but this Jenny from Colorado
who you hadn't heard from in seven years
speaking French, still brunette
and smiling to see you.

Hiking Gimmelwald

 

 

We are so small after all,

tiny legs like the chickens scratching in the dirt,
so dumb as the cow bells ringing in the forest
we tell the  mountains we are here with snow fences
and chalets, our wires stretching far into the
horizon  ferrying our lives
up and down all day,  or small legs,
knees bent double on steep inclines
we are here framed against glaciers
vertical walls, clouds that roll across
the valley, hiding us from
ourselves.