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The Sunday Poem: Katherine Johnson-Ficklen... In a Hotel Room in Texas, Alone

There is being alone…and then there is being alone in a cheap hotel room. Truth opens that door and wants to chat.

Katherine Johnson-Ficklen is a native New Mexican who took a six year hiatus in Boston. She puts her MFA to good use working as a barista.

In a Hotel Room in Texas, Alone

The first thing I did was take off my jeans,
attempt to admire myself under florescent lights.
Even squinting, it was not sexy.

Jacuzzi tub in the corner of the bedroom,
for a seedy and probably sticky romp
from dirt ringed tub to unwashed bedcovers.

What did I do? I made a phone call.
The only man I’ve never been able to forget.
I was alone, his girlfriend, out of town.

Our conversation, light, about music and our dogs mostly.
Even after ten years, silences, loaded,
until finally “you still there?”

But there is nothing sexy when you are alone,
about a hotel room with a Jacuzzi tub in the corner
of the bedroom, in Humble Texas at midnight.
Even with your jeans off.

--Katherine Johnson-Finklen

Poetry submissions are welcome. Email theditchrider@gmail.com.

5 members like this

Comment by Stewart Warren on January 15, 2012 at 11:25am: A tight narative that snaps its fingers to an oldie but goodie. Well done!

Comment by Rich Boucher on January 15, 2012 at 3:04pm: Great opening.

Great closing.

Great middle.

"...in Humble Texas at midnight."

Well done, Katherine.

Comment by Ron Da Bomb on January 15, 2012 at 4:15pm: Like!

Comment by BARBARA BYERS on January 15, 2012 at 4:57pm: Good poem about a good ol' plight. I felt every depressing bit of grit. Hate those unwashed sheets. I agree with Rich. "...in Humble Texas at midnight" and the stick Jacuzzi, yeeeee!

Good job and thanks.

Comment by Merimee Moffitt on January 15, 2012 at 6:08pm: vivid--I was right there with you. cool to show this side of love--the ten years later, the phone call--the lack of more

Comment by Merimee Moffitt on January 15, 2012 at 6:10pm: Katherine, Are you back in NM now? thanks to Jon that we get a glimpse . . .

Comment by Margaret Randall on January 15, 2012 at 7:01pm: I love this poem! I love the way "almost nothing" becomes everything... Thank you!

Comment by Katherine JF on January 16, 2012 at 10:11am: Thank you everyone! Yes, I am living in Albuquerque again. Trying to get on my feet in the poetry community after spending so long writing as a solitary process. I'd love to be in touch with fellow local poets and fiction writers (well any type of writer, really!)

Comment by Dee Cohen on January 16, 2012 at 3:13pm: Hi Katherine, Great scene setting, like a poetic short story. Well done. Hope to meet you in the poetry world now that you're in town. Dee

Comment by Stewart Warren on January 17, 2012 at 6:51pm: Katherine,

Southwest writers may be a resource for you.

http://southwestwriters.com/

and of course the readings at Adobe Walls and Fixed and Free.

Stewart