Tag Archives: paris

Swimming In The Seine 1985

In the summer of 1985 I rode my Vespa 150 east from Paris along the Seine until reaching a strand of strand past Melun. The temperature was warm and I waded into the river. It smelled of algae, but I plunged into the waters. Not pleasant, but not unpleasant, then again as a child in […]

A Bacchanalian Mirage

Associated Press – Paris Olympics organizers apologized to anyone who was offended by a tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ during the glamorous opening ceremony, but defended the concept behind it Sunday. Da Vinci’s painting depicts the moment when Jesus Christ declared that an apostle would betray him. The scene during Friday’s […]

Childcity, Aprilcity – Gregory Corso

Baby City, April City, angel spirits hiding in the gates, poets, parasites in their hair, beautiful Baudelaire, Artaud, Rimbaud, Apollinaire, contemplate the night city – Whistleblowers and goalkeepers, Penalty of Montparnasse, mortal Notre Dame, contemplate the night circle, the inherited dome, Hugo and Zola buried together, harleccino’s death trap, the Seine breeds filthy sludge, The […]

Bastille Day 1789

2 July 1789 The Bastille – Paris The Marquis De Sade was in the stone fortress on charges of perversion. In the afternoon a prisoner cried from his window. “Ils tuent les prisonniers.” The guards subdued the inmate, but his words sparked a smoldering rumor and the rumor spread through the poor neighborhood awaiting a […]

Les Frogs

Most Americans have an unfavorable attitude toward the French. This antipathy is based on the abuse many US tourists have suffered from dismissive Paris waiters during their weeklong summer vacation. Few of my countrymen realize that these garcons are rude to their own countrymen as well as any estrangers. That is not to say that […]