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Letter from Rome
On Saturday afternoon during my week-end
Trip to Paris in December, I stopped at
A crepe stand on the Boulevard St. Michel
And bought for 1 franc 20 centimes
A crepe with sugar and hot butter.
The woman at the stand folded the crepe
Into a triangle and handed it to me
In a piece of waxed paper. I took a bite
And stared at the street where the police
Had poured asphalt over the cobblestones.
As I walked along the quay with Ruth
And her mother, it was cold, a cold wind
Blowing and it felt good biting into the
Steamy crepe. Then suddenly a slip
And hot butter dripped in two wide streams
Down the front of my raincoat. I tried to
Brush it off with a tissue, but it quickly
Stained then caked into a hard
Gloss in the cold wind.
I walked on to Notre Dame and Estelle
Explained she would try getting
The stain out with talcum powder.
When we got back to the hotel I felt
Relieved in the darkness of Notre Dame
Because I could hide and forget the stain.
Going back to the hotel on the metro,
I made sure to open the raincoat so
It would fold back to conceal the stain.
After dinner that night, I sprinkled
On the powder and hung the coat
On the bathroom door hopefully.
The next morning it was pretty much
The same, except the stain was a little
Lighter and didn't clash too sharply
With the color of the coat. I managed
The open coat technique whenever I could
But it was hard to do that bitterly cold, drizzly Sunday.
When I got back to Rome, I was hesitant
To take it to the cleaners. It would cost a lot
And take a long time; I hated to let
Go of it and lose control when it was
The only thing approaching a winter coat
I had. So I hung on to it through the holidays
And became less self-conscious and then
Belligerent about my stain.
Who could dare object? It was a badge
Of honor, a sign of my freedom from concern
About silly and superficial things. So what if
I had a spot on my coat. Whom did it bother?
Whom did it hurt? It wasn't my pants.
It wasn't my soul. Did it reveal me as a foolishly
Careless person? It could have happened to anyone,
And it was a good crepe. It was for others
To question why the spot bothered them; it
Was for me to keep warm and free myself
From concern with the foolish opinion of others.
On January second when I did bring the coat
To be cleaned, I told the woman it was my only
Coat; she was reassuring, again and again;
It was three weeks before I saw it again.
It still had the spot. She would try talcum
Powder overnight. The next day the spot was
Gone, but meanwhile I had developed the flu,
Then bronchitis which lingered into February.
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