The Only Parisian Who Smiles

The only Parisian who smiles,
smiles from the lived-in greasy sheen
of his worn-out suit-coat,
smiles from the middle of Rue de Moufert
where he drinks off the tourists – or not –
in front of a semi-circle of Bolivian buskers
who sing in Spanish:
I bought it for four. I sold it for five.
My life is a business. All the profits go for drinks.
He does not understand one word of this,
but keeps requesting, Condor Pasa!
after each and every tune.

When their lungs fill and finally blow
through canas those first few,
long notes of Condor Pasa,
He pulls back clumps of slick gray hair
and stares hard skyward,
balling up and tugging out
his T-shirt stained with weeks of vin rouge,
and points to his bare, pale frame
as if it is all for him, or it is him as he spreads arms,
then hammers the top of his head beaten 
by cops, fellow clochards and hangovers
in time with the tune as he dances,
lifting a little with each floppy step, capering up,
pirouetting the tip of the Eiffel tower.

For a finale, from inside his suit coat, tucked there
next to rib cage's fluttering heart, he pulls out
a half-full bottle suddenly on the half-empty side,
frowns and holds it aloft anyway.
Putting it to the space where his front teeth were,
he drains it as the song ends in one swallow,
beams into the crowd, bows,
turns to the band
and again, Condor Pasa? Condor Pasa?
Tiger (sign)

Tiger sign, Tiger sign gleaming bright
Through the neon streets of night,
What marketing hand and eye
Designed your craving symmetry?

What buyer survey placed you there,
What monopoly on cheap beer,
Where is the jungle you once roamed
That now you call the food-court home?

And what barley and what hops
Make you fearless to the last drop,
What the headache, what hangover
Do you bestow upon office workers?

When developers cut down the last trees
Where will you find a cooling breeze,
Did he who electrically framed you
Create the Sarong Party Girl too?

When the expats throw up their beers
And water the toilets with their tears,
Did they smile their results to see,
Did they who made imports also make thee?