Lost in Translation [by Victoria C. Rowan]

THE ENGLISH DON’T TRAVEL WELL

Franglais
Cuckoo for Coco and
Piaf’s broken record
skips among the Orangerie terrines
the Hall of Mirrors shatters the
lune-de-miel over Maurice,
ever the Chevalier

Spanglish
the flittish flamenco queen’s
castanets clitter in progressions
spangles skitter from her cleavage to
the darkest chorizo
hanging from the rafters
the barrio blooms with garlic

Germish
Ich sick and the sensible eins number one
approach is a precise dose double zwei
for the kleine drug problem drei in a trice
solved with blues so blau
reds so rot mein gott
we were so jung

The rest are best left
over the borderline