By Marie Kazalia
Tonight, after reading a Jacques Prevert poem
about a man having a heart attack in a florists shop
I suddenly remember
standing before a counter inside a florists shop in Tokyo
asking the young woman for certain flowers
pulling a thousand yen bill from a leather wallet
I no longer own �
placing the note on the counter
the girl turning to get my flowers from behind a glass door
realize I have something smaller after all
pull out a 100 yen note
exchange it for the larger on the counter �
the girl carefully wrapping my flowers in tissue paper
hands me a stack of money as change
I�m slightly puzzled � why so much
then I think she hadn�t noticed
I�d switched to the smaller bill
I�m in a strange place
the money I�d arrived with
spent too rapidly in this expensive city
finding extra jobs
to earn more to escape
so I smile and say thank you
hurry off
in the all white meditation room
I silently feed the flowers into a vase
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