Annoying Parisian Dragonfly

Mark Leidner

A dragonfly landed on the creme brûlée.

I swatted at it with the baguette.

It leapt onto the end of the baguette

and there it stayed as I swung the bread

at nothing, trying to get the dragonfly off

and I accidentally knocked the creme

brûlée off the table, and the bowl it was in

burst on the floor and the good stuff fell out

and I cursed the dragonfly and swung the baguette

down so hard that it broke in half on the table

and the dragonfly leapt off the end that broke off

to the end of the half I still held in my hand

so I reached down and got the other half

that had fallen to the floor by my foot

and the dragonfly instantly leapt off the half

I’d just let go of to land on the end of the half

I’d picked up, so I overturned the whole table

and that was when the waiter and patrons

all looked at me, I was shaking with rage

and that’s when the dragonfly landed on my

face, at the end of my nose, its wings

like fluttering spectacles, and through them I swear

I saw Paris, the real Paris, for the first time.

berlin lit