From the Fountain by Susan Tepper

Do you walk 

to make light

through your arms

tree limbs 

hanging.

In Paris 

when the rain stopped  

the buildings

breathed out heat.

A young man

emerged

greasy hair swept back

a sheen to his 

unwashed face and

cheap rumpled suit.

I pictured him 

entwined with a stranger 

all the night before.

Industrious 

he emptied a knapsack

filling empty 

water bottles to sell

to tourists later

from the fountain.

Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry. Her two most recent titles are CONFESS (poetry from Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019) that was shortlisted at American Book Fest. Other honors and awards include eighteen Pushcart Prize Nominations, a Pulitzer Nomination by Cervena Barva Press for the novel ‘What May Have Been’ (re-written for adaptation as a stage play to open in NY next year), shortlisted in Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), NPR’s Selected Shorts for ‘Deer’ published in American Letters & Commentary (ed. Anna Rabinowitz), Second Place Winner in StorySouth Million Writers Award, Best of 17 Years of Vestal Review and more. Tepper is a native New Yorker. www.susantepper.com