Sport 32: Summer 2004
Hotel
Hotel
I thought I saw a bride
at breakfast
it was the hotel waitress
folding
a white tablecloth.
The hotel in Bahrain has a twelve-storey atrium.
The Ambassador Suite is quite unique
and there is gold thread
woven in the carpets.
Remember when we stayed in luxury?
There was no cutlery
so we ate our curry with teaspoons
from a saucer.
We stripped the bed of its many cushions
and closed the three curtains,
the soundproof, the net
and the heavy velvet.
What could be more luxurious
than to lie in the dark
in the daylight
watched only by the red numbers of the clock.
You switched the music on
in the bathroom
where there was also a phone
by the toilet
à la Elvis
I was singing Careless Whisper
by George Michael
The best thing about the luxury hotel
the most unique
was how we came down in the lift from our bed
to the bar
as the doors opened the crowd buzzed
like an audience
and we stepped out
as if into a gameshow
the tall chairs and tables
the people spinning in the bowls of their glasses
the mirrors and mirrors inside mirrors
and above them all the golden lightbulbs
like so many heatlamps
keeping our faces warm.