Winter Comes to France

         for Johan Paulik

 

“Images without their proper sound”

sounds insincere. But so he said.

 

                                       Autun in March:

the architect never made this church for you,

says someone who, from friendship, I won’t

name, but someone who, I’ll say,

wants satisfied respect. And that sounds

insincere.

    —he knows he’s good;

he knows he’s

very good.

And likes his women, too.

In that, of course,

he’s almost wholly

insincere.

 

November has no edge

or solace over him.

Dieppe was cold, but

this friend says,

Where’s Delacroix?

Where did he stay?

So

once again

it seems

that you

forget to see

the thing a

tourist has to see.

 

The farmboy used to be

the one you’d like to see.

They’ve made a movie of him now.

It’s better than

Dieppe. The Czechs make

films like this the best.

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