Fall 1961, Queen Mary adorned for first and last voyage, glorious confusion, sky that would not last until the beginning, Paris, Rue de Pompe, corner round windows, a lost nightingale echoing through narrow streets, a dream of birds nesting in his hair, hot bread baking, Pernod red-faced workmen in blue, pneumatics in the afternoon, winter rain and flowered umbrellas, tartine beurre, thick chocolate sandwiches in Cluny garden, intimacy of garlic in the cold wind, Madame Blanche’s white potato soup avec une petite partie de bacon, pentimento hues of Sorbonne, Camus, mocking Russian students, black stockings torn, my wedding dish of sparrows, ortolans, a songbird crunched with shame, devoured, hidden beneath a white serviette epaisse, and Madame Salmon received me for tea while she was in bed, damp damp damp, deep cold cold, wine, Duras, wine, Colette, posting bands at the Marie, married under the Napoleonic Law, hills of Montmartre, metro stops lit up, mime, a figurehead on front of boat, marrow soup, one cloud of rain in the northern light, opera, spring manche and pis-en-lit, carte d’identité, les pissoirs on the street, le Jardin du Luxembourg, war widows collecting money for wounded veterans, watching children with sailboats, Gauloise smoke, perfumed sweat, cheese and bread, cheese and salad last but always to begin pâté or radishes and butter.
Kathleen Widdoes has been an actress for many years in the theatre, television and film. She received a Tony nomination for Beatrice in ‘“Much Ado About Nothing,” three Obie awards for Off-Broadway performances, in plays by Dumas, Chekhov and Brecht. She was Edith Wharton in PBS’s “Looking Back” and received four Emmy nominations as Emma Snyder in Daytime Soap, “As The World Turns.” She was Joe Papp’s first Juliet and all the dark ladies of Shakespeare at The New York Shakespeare Festival. Some films include, The Group, Masha in The Seagull, and Courage Under Fire. Kathleen’s writing has appeared in 12th Street journal and is now an honors student in the Riggio Writing & Democracy Program working towards a B.A. at The New School.
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