Your prompt today is: hotel. When you hear that word, which hotel comes to mind? Where was it? Describe that hotel. What does it looked like? The front desk, the elevator, the room. Images you see in your mind as you remember. Smells. Tastes. What is the hotel's neighborhood like? What did you experience at the hotel that makes it memorable?
If you don't have a personal hotel memory you want to write about, you might research an old hotel. Google is your friend.) For example, I found out that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio lived in Suite 1806 at the Lexington Hotel in New York City. (It is now called the Norma Jean Suite.)
You can also invent a mythical or magical hotel and tell a fictional story in poetry form! Smiles.
I urge you to look at the poem "Hotel Insomnia" by Charles Simic. A really moving work, I think. And then there is Charles' Bukoski's "the German Hotel" which I like a lot too.
Did you know that Leonard Cohen's song "Chelsea Hotel 2" was written about a relationship he had with Janis Joplin in 1968, when they both lived there for a time. The video below tells a bit of the story. I love, love, love Leonard Cohen.
Please link one poem that is your response to the material of this prompt. Please remember that after you link your poem, to visit other links, in the spirit of community. Everyone appreciates having their poems read & commented on. Reciprocity helps a community thrive and grow.
Prompts will be posted Wednesday at 11 A.M. Eastern Time, and will close Sunday night at 8 P.M. Eastern time.
Greetings, Poets! I wrote this prompt before the recent war in the Middle East began, but I hope you will be able to find a way to write to it -- using the idea in one way or another. Either to escape into a fun hotel memory or look at the ideas presented above or to address the current situation. But be sure there is a "hotel" concept within your poem. And, I also hope that after you have shared you will visit the poems of others as well, as community is important -- even moreso in these difficult days!
ReplyDeleteOh, and DO watch the video. I think it is priceless, loving Leonard Cohen as I do.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of hotels, particularly big ones as I tend to get lost in them. I don't like hotel chains, which are so impersonal, and I avoid staying in them whenever possible. However, when I was an examiner for GCSE English and Literature, I had to travel to Cardiff for the various conferences, and we usually stayed at one particular hotel. I have, therefore, linked up an old poem about that hotel.
ReplyDeleteYour poem made me want to visit that hotel. I guess that is what good poetry does. (In any case, I would like to visit Cardiff, no matter where! Smiles.) Thanks for posting!!
DeleteThank you for sharing the video Mary. So wonderful to be absorbed in music for some time. A very interesting prompt Mary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting, Mary. I have stayed in very few hotels in my life, in times of crisis. It always felt so grand. But I wrote about a different one this week.
ReplyDeleteAnd a powerful poem it was, Sherry! I appreciated the original way you found to use the prompt to make a point about today's world.
DeleteHello dear poets! I am late to the party, and will have to read poems tomorrow as I am so so tired in these wee hours. This was a challenging prompt for me because of the tragic events of these times, and I am sure my poem could use lots more revision. Still here it is, and I'll return visits tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteBut your words came despite the challenge of the prompt, and that is what is important! And it carries a powerful message, which I will reflect on again and again these difficult days.
DeleteJust discovered your site here Sherry. Leonard and I brought you something a little darker. 🙂✌🏼
ReplyDeleteGosh. Thank you.
DeleteHi Rob. I thought I had let you know we have a new site. Maybe I have an old email address of yours. Happy to see you here.
DeleteSorry, Mary I just tried to link and see I missed the timeline- True
ReplyDeleteHere's the link if you would like to read it...-Truedessa
Deletehttps://truewanderings.blogspot.com/2023/10/heartbreak-hotel-breaking-spell.html