“Moulin Rouge, a Pigalle Sous la Neige”
Painting by Antoine Blanchard
At wikipaintings.org

(originally posted here April 2013)

I may be alone

red faux windmill fame

does nothing for me

does not titillate

thrill or excite me

except to arouse

my sorrow and shame

seedy surfaces

soil white shadows

of Sacré Cœur domes

hucksters hawk

after hypocrites

trolling iniquity

worn weary girls

shiver naked in heels

dancing decadent duty

in windows on loan to

itinerant pimps

tawdry clubs cloyed

with burned Galousies

and watery whiskey

exhale pungent perfumes

that cheapen the night

what dirges these

Belle Époque

cobbles and curbs

could re-sing of their

cultural wreckage

ideals of enlightenment

ruined, unwrought

by the raunchy and rancid

and oh so sad

deep carnal foibles of

weak-minded men