Breathless Poem by gershon hepner

Cocteau, Camus, of course Coco Chanel
all smoked, and the word cigarette
is French as the tower that’s named for Eiffel,
as sexy as Brigitte Bardot was when wet,
and the cause of its thrill which is called nicotine,
was named for a Frenchman, Jean Nicot, who brought
some leaves of tobacco to cure the migraine
of Catherine de Medici in the French court.

The name of the movie that typified smoking
was “Breathless, ” but that will change,
because in France they have given up joking
about cigarettes, and though it is strange
to imagine Belmondo without a Gauloise
or Gitane between lips that are aching to kiss,
it’s what you must do because of the tars
they contain that no filter can ever dismiss.


From toniest nightclub to village café
the cigarette now has been banished in France,
while bureaucrat Frenchmen will have to obey
enforce the new rules, leaving nothing to chance,
except, I expect, when to banish the sadness
that follows the act of the beast with two backs,
and smoking’s de rigueur to bring back the gladness,
all lovers will turn to their Gauloises’ packs.

Elaine Sciolino writes about a smoking ban that came into effect in France on January 2nd (“Even France, Haven of Smokers, Is Clearing the Air, ” NY, January 3,2007) :
Overnight, conviviality has taken on an entirely new meaning in France. Under a sweeping decree that took effect Wednesday, smoking has been banned in every commercial corner of “entertainment and conviviality” — from the toniest Parisian nightclub to the humblest village cafe. No matter that cigarette is a French word. Or that the great icons of French creativity — Colette to Cocteau, Camus to Coco Chanel — all smoked. Or that Paris boasts a Museum of Smoking. Or, in fact, that Paris has named a street after Jean Nicot, the 16th-century French diplomat who took tobacco leaves imported from America to Catherine de Medici to treat her migraines. (Nicotine was named after him.) The ban is the final step in a 2006 prohibition on smoking in public places, which had granted postponements to restaurants, bars, discos, casinos and other commercial pleasure enterprises so that they could better brace themselves for smokelessness. On Wednesday, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot visited the high-ceilinged,100-year-old Wepler brasserie in Paris and announced that there was “perfect” compliance with the new rule…. At Le Musée du Fumeur (The Museum of Smoking) , there is concern that the French may not be able to think as well without their cigarettes. “All our great writers seem to have been smokers, ” said Michka Seeliger-Chatelein, one of the curators. Still, there are efforts to keep a sense of humor. The cafe-restaurant Le Fumoir (The Smoking Room) has made gifts of its signature ashtrays. The cover of the current issue of Le Figaro Magazine retouched black and white photos of Che Guevara, Jacques Brel, Brigitte Bardot and other passionate smokers; they grip giant yellow buttercups instead of cigarettes between their lips. Most establishments seemed resigned to the ban. “We are not taking sides, ” said Colin Peter Field, the head bartender at the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz. The bar will continue to sell 40 to 50 types of upscale cigars and is studying plans to renovate its outdoor spaces to accommodate smokers. “Once you’ve hung yourself, ” Mr. Field said, “you’re not going to drown yourself as well.”

1/3/08