by Mary Byrne
Dawn
A black man with thick, thick spectacles sweeps the gutter with a green plastic broom. In Bamako his wife and children await the money order he will send from the post office on rue du Louvre, open all day Sunday for people such as him. In his bourgeois home the French president studies the timetable for the last days of his Presidential campaign.
The Kabyle sets La Mandoline coffee machine in motion and writes his luncheon menu.
A light wind moving between clouds and earth ruffles the early leaves on the plane trees. A blue neon ‘Pompes Funèbres’ sign is reflected in a puddle that is just the right length.
Acknowledgments
Heartfelt thanks to friends, family and editors who’ve supported my work
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‘What doesn’t choke will fatten’, Prairie Schooner, Spring 2012 (print). University of Nebraska Press.