A dragonfly landed on the creme brûlée.
I swatted at it with the baguette.
It leapt onto the end of the baguette
and there it stayed as I swung the bread
at nothing, trying to get the dragonfly off
and I accidentally knocked the creme
brûlée off the table, and the bowl it was in
burst on the floor and the good stuff fell out
and I cursed the dragonfly and swung the baguette
down so hard that it broke in half on the table
and the dragonfly leapt off the end that broke off
to the end of the half I still held in my hand
so I reached down and got the other half
that had fallen to the floor by my foot
and the dragonfly instantly leapt off the half
I’d just let go of to land on the end of the half
I’d picked up, so I overturned the whole table
and that was when the waiter and patrons
all looked at me, I was shaking with rage
and that’s when the dragonfly landed on my
face, at the end of my nose, its wings
like fluttering spectacles, and through them I swear
I saw Paris, the real Paris, for the first time.