Hunting the Ibis
October 27th, 2019
Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris

Even Google is in on it.
The recommended route from
Terminal 3 to Terminal 2
involves a train ride
a bus, an Uber
and a 37 minute walk.

I am, as Dave Barry might assure us,
not making this up.

Samuel Johnson not withstanding,
I am tired of Paris.

Not the Champs Elysees
or l’Arc —
I never made it that far.

CDG strives to offset
any good memories of Paris itself.
Life, it says, is not all roses.
Here, have some thorns.

During the war,
they painted over the road signs
to keep the enemy from
finding their way.

I come in peace.
The war is long over.
I seek only a place to sleep.

Hell is not, as JP tells us
other people.
No, it is wandering
Charles de Gaulle at 11:30,
looking for the Ibis,
as though it were not a cheap hotel,
but rather the bird of legend
flying mournfully over the rolling waves
looking for somewhere,
anywhere,
to land for the night.