Vivian Wagner
Marie Antoinette Visits Paris, Texas
I don’t know what Ford F-150s are,
honestly—quel est ce bruit?—
and I can’t find any powder
around here. I’ve only seen
these things called cowboy hats, and
they’re far too small to cover my
wilting, muddied pouf.
It’s hot, I’m tired, and I want
to go home, but there’s nothing
left for me there.
Maybe I’ll stop in a bar,
order a whiskey, kick up my
blistered feet, wipe the
dust from my slippers.
Me. A drink. This afternoon.
A dust storm blowing in,
here at the end of all roads.
It’s the most a one-time
dauphine could ask for.
But let me just say, for the
record, before I knock a
few back, that I’m sorry to
everyone I stepped on.
Je ne l’ai pas fait exprès.
Vivian Wagner’s is the author of the poetry collection The Village (Kelsay Books, 2017) and the memoir Fiddle: One Woman, Four Strings, and 8,000 Miles of Music (Citadel-Kensington, 2010). Her work has appeared in Muse /A Journal, Forage Poetry Journal, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Creative Nonfiction, The Atlantic, The Ilanot Review, Silk Road Review, Zone 3, Eyedrum Periodically, 3QR, and other publications. Wagner is an associate professor of English at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio.
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