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Breakfast
Forgetting words
The moment you
Hear or read them
Is one way to avoid
Plagiarizing but just
Keep their flavor
And then try
Expressing that
In your own words
As if you could
Own words
You can’t even
Keep thoughts
From slipping away
They’re the slipperiest
Of all the slippery
Things in life
The hotel elevator
That rises way
Past the roof
And slips across
A higher landscape
A different neighborhood
Why not ask
If any of these
Places will be
Open for breakfast
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Alan Bernheimer is a poet and translator living in Berkeley, Calif. His latest collection is From Nature (Cuneiform Press, 2019). His translation of Philippe Soupault’s memoir, Lost Profiles: Memoirs of Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism, was published by City Lights in 2016. He recently edited “Retroscope,” a selection of literary travel writing from the past at Nowhere magazine.
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Irish breakfast, 19 March 2024. Photo by Don Berger
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Author: Terence Winch
