Georges Perec | On the Difficulty of Imagining an Ideal City

I wouldn't love to live in America but sometimes I would

I'd love to live on the Boulevard St-Germain but sometimes I wouldn't

I wouldn't like to live on a coral reef but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in the East but sometimes I would

I love living in France but sometimes I don't

I'd love to live in Greenland but not for too long

I'd love to live to a hundred but sometimes I wouldn't

I wouldnt like to live in Issoudun but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live on a junk yard but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in a ksar but sometimes I would

I'd have loved to go in a lunar module but it's a bit late

I wouldn't like to live in a monastery but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live at the Hotel Negresco but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in the open air but sometimes I would

I love living in Paris but sometimes I don't

I wouldn't like to live in Quebec but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live by my own resources but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in a submarine but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live with Ursula Andress but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in a village but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like to live in a wigwam but sometimes I would

I'd love to live in Xanadu but not for ever

I wouldn't like to live in the Yonne but sometimes I would

I wouldn't like us all to live in Zanzibar but sometimes I would.

* First published in the Quinzaine Litteraire in August 1981.