Delirium Has His Way
I’m halfway down the stone stairs
flat on my back
when I realize I’m so fucking in love
my bruised tailbone
doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter
I’ve blown half my savings
on a four day trip to Paris
with a stranger
who says she ain’t ready
to commit. Tonight,
Delirium tastes of pâté
& cheap burgundy
& I don’t know much french
but the slimy way he repeats,
s’il vous plaît, s’il vous plaît, s’il vous plaît,
with his hands all over me
makes me believe I’m a beautiful scene—
cherry blossoms raging
into the Seine or a storm
kissing Sacré Coeur—
I’m nothing but a loverboy
crooning after a dream.
But some dreams have braces
drive a Mazda 626
& make me say it, I love you,
every time I get off the phone
& I really feel
like, maybe, someone
out there is finally mine
& Delirium shows me our kids
& the house we would raise them in
& my perfect job
& I think, damn, that was easy
but then, one day,
my dream tells me
she doesn’t believe in dinosaurs
& thinks the earth is flat
& Delirium shifts the whole fucking world
just like that.
***
Author photograph by Liza Voloshin
