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Kentucky native CD Collins follows the storytelling traditions of the South, both as a solo artist and when accompanied by musicians. Her work is represented in five compact discs, one of which won Best Spoken-Word album at the Boston Poetry Awards. She is the author of three books: a short fiction collection, Blue Land (Polyho Press), a poetry collection (Ibbetson Street Press) and a novel, Afterheat (Empty City Press). Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines including StoryQuarterly, Phoebe, Salamander, and The Pennsylvania Review. Ms. Collins was guest at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. for a pilot conference to advance the development of innovative technologies that support the inclusion of people with disabilities.

CD Collins — Photo by Babette Meyers

Champs-Elysèes

Every day I walk the bridges in the city,
Among sand-colored and pink-tinged buildings,
past storefronts and sidewalk cafés,
banks of round marble tables,
with gold-back chairs,
all facing the same direction.
I see faces: human, animal, mythical.
Everywhere you look there’s always a face.
And sometimes it is your face.

Along the Champs-Elysèes,
The homeless men lie in the middle of the sidewalk.
They are staggered at intervals every block or so.
They lie on their sides or they crouch on their knees.
Each has drawn a chalk balloon above his head,
And inside the balloon his story written in chalk.

“S’il vous plaît,” they all begin,
Then a brief history of their misfortune–
I am without a home in Paris.
I have no job.
I am a poor Frenchman.
I am Jamaican.
They all end, “Merci.”

The men wear suit coats;
They have no belongings or even shopping bags,
Only a small metal can placed beside them,
Empty or containing a few centimes.
They wear dark leather shoes,
and cotton pants with creases down the front.
They wear suit jackets.
Which they pull over their heads,
Hiding their faces.

They are impeccable and formal,
Bowed down in the middle of the street,
Just the men,
Lying on their sides,
Or in uncomfortable positions.

— CD Collins

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