John Gray's poem "Hotel in Thailand"
J
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Sheepshead Review, Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review, and Hollins Critic. Latest books, “Leaves On Pages”, “Memory Outside The Head”, and “Guest Of Myself”, are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Ellipsis, Blueline, and International Poetry Review.
Hostel in Thailand
Clock on the sagging wall,
like a fat man with a small face,
as crickets sing between the sleepers,
and slowly the encroaching shadows
attend to each and every one of them
like nurses on their rounds.
The wind loosens the mosquitoes.
Sapped of strength by heat,
they fall upon the bodies.
A fan turns like an inscrutable tide,
putting everything back where it was
without it having been anywhere.
From the corner of my eye,
I see my memories in other people,
listlessly coiled like sick snakes,
or slumped like they've been dumped.
On a steamy night, starved
and hungry for a cigarette,
the spirit of adventure
hands in its uniform.
It's stained and bloody
and two sizes too big.
A kid I came up on the train with
is huddled in a corner reading Shakespeare.
No more excited talk
of morning jungle hi the mist.
He's absorbed in
every other place,
every other time.
Now it's just dog barks
and snorting bulls
on the street outside
that exist in this place, this time.
© 2022 John Grey
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