The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

PHILIPPE SOUPAULT

night is falling drop by drop
I’ve been waiting for hours

Give me that lemonade and the last cigarette
I’ll come back to Paris
—mary ann caws and patricia terry

Movie-house

for Blaise Cendrars

The wind strokes the posters
Blank
the cashier is made of china

Screen

the robot conductor directs the player piano
shots are heard
applause
the stolen car disappears into the clouds
and the frozen lover has purchased a celluloid collar

But soon doors slam

Very elegant today

He has put on his top hat

His gloves too

The program changes every Friday
—mary ann caws

Song for Ghosts and for Those Now Gone

Today there are hands I love,
Yesterday it was a nape
Tomorrow it will be lips
and this evening a smile
In three days a face
So each day in the week
I marvel at still living
Monday I may recall the way you walk