She came to clean my hotel room
with bleach and towels, mop and broom
and when the fire alarm went off
we left together. In the rough-
edged shadows of the parking lot
she said: “Forgive me. It’s just not
what I expected when I got
my social-work degree. I thought
I could be useful helping people.”
At her waist, the hotel beeper
sounded the all-clear. We went
inside. She fetched her cart and leant
on it. The hallway smelled of fire.
“A false alarm. My God, I’m tired.”
--for Poefusion
Collection available! Knocking from Inside
Thursday, June 12, 2008
False Alarm
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10 comments:
Again, you've pulled off a brilliant piece of poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Keep up the good work. Have a nice weekend.
I really enjoyed this poem. Your housekeeper is so believable. You've really brought her to life in this work. I like the little details (the smell of smoke).
You offer vivid details and insight into the hotel worker's character. A pleasure to read.
This is a very concise poem. The housekeeper speaks at just the right moment, and reveals a secret we don't expect. Love the internal/slant rhymes you use here. Nicely done. "rough-edged shadows of the parking lot" is a particularly nice phrase.
Lovely, heartfelt, poignant.
Manages to fit a lot of feeling into a simple series of events.
Reflects our sucky economy, too! Great last line.
surprising rhymes and thought provoking too
so many details and stories within a few lines.. flowed like water... and the story was over...
This is really terrific.
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