In 2012, a montage of my images, “Parapluis, Palais Royale,” was selected to participate in the Paris-based Grand Prix de Découverte.  Subsequently, I divided the montage into four separate sets of images, each with a short poem, as follows . . .

Rains begin

Plaza shines

Umbrellas open

A couple walks by

Old woman in black

                                      They will not stop

Rain soft forecast feeling cold

I stop, lost my way

Plaza pavement grey sky shining sea

Don’t know where to go

Till grace direction

Darkness I must cross

My umbrella colors and me

You start but cannot keep up

With what is finished, done

He to his lover

In spite of what he said

You back to where you met

Red umbrella shaking off the rain

Pick up, resume

What you’ve forgotten how to begin

Housemaid, cleaner

Immigrant, outsider

Umbrellas traveling in pairs

Like nuns

Their holy work:

Serving others