A Thousand and One Nights of Betrayal

Consider the scene
at some chique restaurant
where I sit demure
and play along
for once

My parents utterly happy
that I have given in
to what they believe to be commonsense
and what I know to be
failed attempts

to

connect

a thousand and one times
I have spoken the speak
a thousand and one times
I have acted the act
over there.

over here, now, a thousand and one nights
I shall give in
a thousand and one nights
I shall erase
a thousand and one nights I shall
betray
me-mo-ry

Istanbul Latitudes

It is a little known fact
that
Istanbul
is first a trope
then a city

One can write a set of vilanelles
as a late-
comer to this art of
subterfuge

Pall-Mall, Chiado, Vienna
these are all latitudes
to Istanbul:
the place of forgotten births