Day 1 of 30: Global Poetry Writing Month and National Poetry Writing Month
"Never Leave the Hotel"
Bangkok, city of tuk-tuks and temples,
Highest room of any hotel, just below the penthouse
order room service day after day after day
never leave that high-rise balcony,
that mahogany desk, those clean, white sheets
that hold you captive
phad thai tastes just as good delivered just outside the door
by a smiling guard
Let the taxis slither a night path through allies
let them learn one-way streets and how to speak Thai
You? Navigate the solitary stars blinking high above the sky line
discover the secret diamond constellations
in city lights,
like one majestic Titan, silently walk the community carpet of city traffic
Smile at the inviting sky rise across the way
who lifts a glass in a toast.
The fan in the Balinese eco-hotel
beside terraced green rice fields
loves you.
Light a clove cigarette, bath in the handmade tile shower
Play some Santana and weep good tears.
That beautiful blue pool pond outside,
Empty and round, below the palms--
It doesn't miss you
At all.
That claw-foot tub in the B & B in Old Shanghai?
The room you have to climb three floors of wooden steps to open with a
skeleton key?
That tiny room, that antique bed with chocolates on the pillow is
the best prison yet
You never have to leave.
Istanbul isn't any better, really.
The way you order seven or eight cappuccinos a day to be delivered outside your door
So no one will see you.
The way the empty white ceramic cups and saucers pile up like a memorial to something lost
The way they lean like the Leaning Tower of Pisa on Turkish carpet
It is rainy and cold and you don't have a decent jacket
Just stay. Listen day after day to the call to prayer echo through eternal drizzle.
You can always visit the Blue Mosque on the way
Out of town.
So many ways
to be
a traveler
So many ways
to know
a city.
~by Kat Shamash
© 2018 Kat Shamash (April 1, 2018)
#GloPoWriMo2018 #NaPoWriMo2018
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