Why Paris, once again Paris? by Steven Ray Smith

Why Paris, once again Paris?

Steven Ray Smith

It’s for the shared love for gilding ones’ triumphs,
for outsized declarations and oversized arches,
for enriching every plate with fat,
for being the on-time child among old Europe like being
the pin-pen enunciator at an old South Thanksgiving,
superior to the cousins, Napoleon
coronating himself while the Pope looks on.

It’s the camaraderie of symbiotic sovereignty
where each views the other indebted in perpetuity—
we a bloodline of redeemers, the obelisk
upon Pointe du Hoc our fat American
sword to the vaunting Nazis,
they the motherland of Rochambeau,
champion of Yorktown,
George Washington in tow.


About the Author

Steven Ray Smith’s poetry has appeared in The Yale Review, Southwest Review, The Kenyon Review, Slice, Barrow Street, New Madrid, Tar River Poetry and others. New work is forthcoming in Poet Lore and THINK. His web site is www.StevenRaySmith.org. He lives in Austin.