Paris, Friday 26 January

Did I say the weather had warmed up and turned rainy. Rain shines on the zinc roofs across the street this morning. When I was a child, and especially a teen, I didn’t like Vancouver’s wetness because it made my hair frizz, really frizz, and nothing kept it straight when I went out. Then I taught school in Ghana for a couple years and damp heat wasn’t great either. Then I made peace with my curly hair… . What I love is the sound of rain coming down; in fact, this morning I am sitting with the window open so there’s no glass between the rain’s sssh sssh and me.

And now to a translation and more rewriting - tweaking - of ‘the book’ poems.