In 1995,

I spent a week in Paris

With a Washington D.C.

Employed man I met

At Temple Beth Chayim Chadishim.

A lumbering mistake

When I realized

I had no romantic connection

On the first night

In the miniscule hotel.

My cheapness didn’t let me

Have the guts to get my own room.

The suffering seven days

Were alleviated by visiting

Latin Quarter

Saint-Louis

Montmartre

La Defense

The Marais

The second week of my vacation

Took me to London

Where I met muscleman Brandon

At the World Conference

for Gay and Lesbian Jews.

I was smitten

Because he did pushups

While I laid on his back.