tearing off
one horn then the other ...
café au lait
I always thought France was so sophisticated. Those Paris flashbacks in Casablanca had much to do with it. Rick with his suit and flowered lapel, Ilsa with her scarf choker and soft beret. And that was just for coffee. Then there were the photos brought home after the war. See one Eiffel Tower and you’ve seen them all. But oh, those shots of Les Deux Magots. Fishnet stockings over breakfast. Men in spats. Sunglasses at night.
And that’s where we first met. For me it was a beige-suited pilgrimage. For you a simple stop, a chance to rest your ripped jeans. Seated at adjacent tables, I remember the first sounds the most. The soft, wet dabbing behind your copy of Le Monde. Only later did I see the final tuft of croissant mopping up the cup. The saucer you then filled and slurped from. The same saucer you used to stub your Gauloises to death. I loved you immediately.
slipping away
for one last chocolat chaud ...
boomer tour
is the author of Tick-Tock, a haibun collection that received an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards, and Eira, a collection of haiku that received a 2023 Touchstone Award; both books are from Snapshot Press. Lew is also the co-author, with Roberta Beary and Rich Youmans, of Haibun: A Writer’s Guide (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2023). He is the haibun co-editor of Frogpond and holds an honorary doctorate from Bristol University. Born and raised in Wales, he now lives in Chicago with his wife, Roxanne Decyk. His other passions are fly fishing and gin martinis.
