At the No-Tell Motel


It started and it ended
At the no-tell … Motel

You were late
And I was drunk
And we were both
Again … Yet again

You were married to your job
And probably to someone else
But we talked about your work
And how your boss was such a jerk

And how to deal with clients
Who were slow-pay … No-pay

And while we took our customary showers
We joked about all the DNA
On the top sheet and the floor

And with all that contamination how
They’d never be able to identify ours

Unless it was a TV show

We tried to recreate our own Crime Scene
But the lust … Was dust

We were thinking of somewhere else
Afterwards - We lay there

Imagining the ticks
Of a digital clock

Waiting to see
Who would suggest
The early checkout

To make a simple statue


The sculptor says:

Consider the subject matter
Prepare sketches
From every angle

Surprise yourself with its geography
Ride imaginary camels
Across the desert of its flanks
The caverns of its flaring nostrils
The mountains of its shoulders
The rivers of its mane

Listen so carefully
That you can hear the sound of each hoof placed
The before, the during and the after of its pace

Feel
The thud of mud
The recoil of a thousand pounds
Vibrating through soil
To engage the soles of your own feet

Now take a mallet
A chisel and a block of stone

And simply
Chip away
The parts
That are not horse