The City of Light Taught Me Ennui

There, in the heart of the dark, there is an opaque wading pool of water, and at the end of the other shore is only a mirror, which reveals...

I went to Paris next and lived there like a writer: alone. M. told me that when she was here she felt burdened by an emptiness. “All everyone does is eat and smoke and sleep. I forgot how to be happy there.” I saw some of that myself. Despite the noise of the city my head is quiet, resounding not with ambitious direction but simple realization: This is …