donia g.
Mounsef

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pont des Arts
"Si, par hasard, le Pont des Arts…”
Georges Brassens

 

With one kiss left in our pockets,
we crossed Le Pont des Arts,
hesitantly, reverently, resonantly
“si, par hasard” –
between corroded cadenas d’amour,
master lock
         and no key,

walking as if backwards from
a war zone after defeat,
against “le vent fripon”

miscounting steps,
twined distance
between
fence and twisted metal –
padlocks of hopefulness,
taken away on green
         dump-trucks
         Propreté de Paris shipping gleefully
to the landfill
beneath the sea.

Eyes prying,
the promise of love flames to dust,
as the locks are
replaced by disgruntled faces,
si par hasard,
discontent breaks out on skin
a rash of pewter, chestnut metal,
         auburn, russet, stainless steeling
         spectered kisses

creases creep up
         crepitant crevices, 
crippled by crimson copper,
on viaducts
where travelers never
pay attention to
the crumbling cryptic
         thin water below,
as they chain their unfolding desire
into cinnamon iron sheets,

slipping into holes
too soft for lust,
too hard for love.

Donia G. Mounsef was born and lived in Beirut, Lebanon until the age of 19. She is a Canadian-Lebanese poet, playwright, and dramaturge. She splits her time on either side of the Canadian Shield, between Toronto and Edmonton, where she teaches theatre and poetry at the University of Alberta. She is the author of a poetry collection: Plimsoll Lines (Windsor & Detroit: Urban Farmhouse Press, 2018), and a chapbook: Slant of Arils (Atlanta: Damaged Goods Press, 2015). Her writing has been published and anthologized in print and online in The Toronto Quarterly, Bluestem,, Yes Poetry, Gutter Eloquence, Poetry Quarterly, Lavender Review, Linden Avenue, Bookends Review, Gravel Magazine, Skin 2 Skin, Iris Brown, Reverie’s Rage Anthology, 40 Below Anthology, etc.