The Last Time I Saw Paris/Sous le Ciel de Paris
Source of the Enlightenment that inspired
The American Revolution, it took a long time
And many beheadings by the guillotine, before
Anyone embraced Voltaire’s Traité sur la tolerance.
It was why our founding fathers feared having a state religion.
This is not the first time that the city of lights
Has been occupied. You can hear history
In the old recordings, the scratchy, empty spaces
For listeners across the world to fill with
Hope for peace. They were all citizen soldiers then.
In that Post-War city, black Americans,
& gays & most flamboyantly outrageous
Jazz musicians could live and practice their art.
The idea that one race was superior
To any other had been defeated, or so we hoped.
Is that tinker-toy, the Eiffel Tower, an eye-sore
Or a metallic feat of engineering the new century?
The somber Louvre barely cracks a smile
Over that glass pyramid stuck like a diamond
In its navel. The new constantly accosts tradition.
When the God Spot turns any human brain on,
Whoever does not belong to the new faith
Will be killed. There are no innocents, only
Self-proclaimed martyrs who bear a grudge.
We are all citizen soldiers now.
Disposable Poem November 15, 2015]
Dr. Mike
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