izzy

first time I’ve ever seen ticket inspectors on the Paris métro
and they’re not even giving me a second glance
in this almost-empty carriage they check everyone
but me
I think I must look French, I must look like I couldn’t be a fare evader with my
cropped hair
striped shirt
red lipstick
baguette
and a bag rattling with red wine for the riverbanks
I must look French with my
striped shirt
cropped hair
red lipstick
white skin.

*

sarah

they say that animals know more than we do
they can sense things we can’t
dogs can smell cancer, birds sing for the dead
rats will run when the going gets tough
well, this cat is hunched under the bed, spitting and moaning
making that horrid human groaning that sounds like ‘no’ and tensed like a cobra
and I wonder what the fuck it is that I don’t know about
and whether it’s me, or her, or us both

*