Paris Microcosmos

The swishing sound of metro doors,

the final closing sound,

the mix of odours:

Perfume, sweat and dust,

phones which did not cease to ring.

Often I left at station Poisonnière

to walk the distance back

to station Rue Cadet

to smoke a Gauloise in peace,

to drink a Pernod

in my corner bistro.

To escape and to recover

from the swirling Underworld

and rattling subway trains

where

people enter

people leave

people sit or stand,

earphones on at high volume,

untouched, uninterested,

unconcerned,

as in the Upperworld.

Published on April 21, 2023

Eduard Schmidt-Zorner is a translator and writer of poetry, haibun, haiku, and short stories.

He writes in four languages: English, French, Spanish, and German and holds workshops on Japanese and Chinese style poetry and prose and experimental poetry.

Member of four writer groups in Ireland. Lives in County Kerry, Ireland, for more than 30 years and is a proud Irish citizen, born in Germany.

Published in over 190 anthologies, literary journals, and broadsheets in USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Austria, France, Bangladesh, India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Some of his poems, and haibun have been published in French (own translation), Romanian, and Russian language.

He also writes under his penname Eadbhard McGowan.