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  You could have a big dipper   

Paris Review by Vincent James Perrone



You’re in Paris,

Kentucky cooking escargot

with a magnifying glass.


I’m in Detroit Metro

redacting the boarding pass

with stupid, solitary glee.


This airport is a tepid

aquarium—the scent of fear

and every strata of cologne.


It’s the beginning of

Breathless—criminal.

Waiting for the go-ahead.


Enough men with wings.

Toussaint Louverture

only had a horse.


The agreement is to stand

between canals and wait

for the echo of ancestors.


In Kentucky, you teach

your sister’s children

to stick their tongues out.


A family does laundry

in silent resentment.

You investigate the territory.


In this airport

I dissect a croissant

with a plastic spork.


You make lemonade

with your nephews

and give it away for free.


I want to be missed

more than I want to be

alone in Europe.


But what I want most

is to board a plane

without panic.


Flying is always ironic.

You can buy cigarettes

but you can’t smoke.



 

Vincent James Perrone is the author of the full-length poetry book, "Starving Romantic" (11:11 Press, 2018), the forthcoming chapbook, "Travelogue for the Dispossessed" (Ghost City Press, 2021), and a contributor to "Collective Voices in the Expanding Field" (11:11 Press, 2020). Recent work published and forthcoming from The Indianapolis Review, Emerge Literary Journal, Levee Magazine, and more. Say hi on Twitter @spookyghostclub or at vincentjamesperrone.com

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