Hotel Narrative (06 APR 1996)

1.
orange-gold sateen
quilt
on bed
     “spilled sperm would show”

Or
a (traffic) delay you (sincerely) did not wish
translates into
tears I failed to camouflage for the first time

entire world at war          for the first time
over a fumble over an emperor
whose name I will never remember

a significance without value

bracelet woven from elephant hair
remains a mere bracelet

until your finger slipped in
twisting the dark line around my wrist
so my pulse can pulse
                    can pulse


2.
shut eyes
a failed silence

against door shutting
               shutting implacably


3.
you limp
walking the fake Oriental runner
immortalizing your departure

someday you will mate
with a cane

impotent balm
upon who was hurt

brass-framed mirrors
witness
               There are certain matters best left unseen

you left a body
crumpled like used kleenex

your face bobbing
masks a familiar anguish

that anguish becomes twin

O: that anguish becomes twin


4.
antique French furniture
painted white with gold trimmings

gilded surfaces
but fake

but real enough


5.
white marble slabs
grey veins

wide jacuzzi tub
in onyx

once, you pressed
lever fashioned from burnished metal

(burnished metal: such care over a significance without value)

pink bar of soap
melded by crushed roses
unopened in translucent green waxpaper

thick white towels
undisturbed in their folds

you penetrated me
I have never seen you nude


6.
As for conversation

               I will this poem
               will not be on bitterness

you did not bother to hide
your glance at the clock

I had pushed back its time
but

time cannot be pushed back
or held

but
radiance can be held

radiance
can be held