Je Suis Ici

May 30

I’ve been in Paris for the last three weeks. It’s been a whirlwind trip so far with family and friends. Traveling with my niece for the first time since she was fourteen, we did all the touristy things: went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, a train ride to Giverny to see Monet’s garden, a boat tour of the Seine, a concert in Notre Dame.

Yesterday was the first chance I had to to sit in a park. Today I am writing this with the windows opened wide on a beautiful spring day.

This is the twelfth trip I’ve made to Paris since I first visited in 1985 so I like hanging out sometimes to pretend I’m a local. Staring out at the roofs outside my apartment window tell me I’m here in the City of Light more than any museum.

Square du Temple - Elie Wiesel, The Marais.

Tomorrow I get on a train heading to the Pyrenees, a region of France I’ve not visited. I’m off to a writing workshop with the incomparable Allison K. Williams and Dinty Moore. I’m looking forward to seeing them again and meeting some old writer friends - and hopefully making some new ones.

And it’s lovely to know I’ll have this beautiful apartment to come back to.

“In A Paris Apartment” from Always a Blue House

for Felicity

Loosed from ribbon,

peonies, unfurl, offer up silky aroma

as we drink in

evening light falling

gold across gold stone

outside our window.

Buying these peonies,

buds still tucked tight,

you astonish me

striding ahead into the shop,

fourteen years old,

ablaze with your first

time in Paris.

I have decided

to stop denying

my love of pink,

you declare as you cut

the stems, your deft

young hands full

of petaled promise.

What do you want to claim today to make yourself happy? I’d love to hear from you.

Lisa Rizzo

Je Suis Ici

“In A Paris Apartment” from Always a Blue House

for Felicity

Leaning Toward Light