“Bridge to Eternity,” acrylic on canvas, by Michael Lang, 2012. Used with permission.
They say in Avignon people dance on the bridge
that was either unfinished or fell apart—
no one remembers those folk stories anymore.
Two professors stood in line to dispense
their trays and one gray beard said to the other,
“I advise the young ladies in my class to never
marry on the promise of reform. You must change
the man before you take him.” When I walked
back to the dormitory, I thought of my grandmother
knitting lace when the afternoon hunched over
to listen to her intricate pattern, the clicking
of her needles. She has such a knack for consistency
and small detail.
It was a city of walls. A sacred city
rendered blasphemous with graffiti
and pigeons pecking bits of falafel scattered on
its streets. Six weeks with those walls, I never once made
it to the bridge; we thought of it; we let it go.
The Rhône passes through the city and lets
the talk of pedestrians and the parables enter its
soft current.
Our geography is no stranger to reformation.
We write over histories.
Some are unfinished or they fall apart.
Carla Ferreira works as an English language assistant in Bordeaux, France. “Hearsay” is her professional poetry debut.
I love the gentle thoughtfulness of this piece. I’ve read it several times and feel like each time I get something new out of it. Great job, Carla!
You’ve captured something important here. Beautifully done. Congratulations on your debut!
A lovely flow to this poem, with many textures and layers to touch and fall into. The last stanza, in particular, is wonderful.
Wonderful atmoshpere. I love the descriptions. The clicking of the needles, the blasphemous graffiti.
The weaving of the personal history with the history of the city is very effective.
Lovely.
There and not there. Hearing and seeing, but not living. A tourist.
Very lovely.