Susan L. Helwig
bio

Foreign Vistas

I will sit on the bed, stare at the wall
different bed, different wall
no appointments to keep, no friends to call
new eyes

I will descend to the bar, order un verre
different bar, different choice
new sound to my voice

Vous désirez, Madame?

Vin rouge, s’il vous plait.

And Madame will close her purse with a snap
a hard bright noise, a compact smile
as Signoret might have done
once in a while

Upstairs again, after mon verre
lounge on the bed, gaze at the wall
new sights, new eyes, new voice, that’s all.

Medicine Man

Dance, oh yes, he can dance, and wants to dance with me, sisters, of these he has plenty, Violet, Goldie, so fast he sings the names, I cannot get them down, it’s no use writing, his daughters, both twenty, not dancing now but driving, driving us through the night, after the party, back seat of the Sky Chief, how handsome he seems in the morning’s first light, how healing those hands, and his daughters, both driving.