From Part Five of Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire
HOW TO SURVIVE A HOTEL FIRE
first stop the fucking tears because it’s pathetic, really, all this crying like you
are a single woman at home on valentine’s day, watching a particularly relevant
romantic comedy. just because you are in the airport
doesn’t mean there is a home to return to. just because you were fucked
against a wall doesn’t mean it will happen again. in fact,
i’ve never been kicked out like that before. i can barely
bear anything anymore, which is to say i
need a boyfriend because carrying my own stuff
is boring. when i sneeze i think: this is how i will die: caught
somewhere between all those things that
weren’t and the ways we prepared. a secret is: i’ll love you
even if you can’t keep my hands warm while we make up animals
and place them in zoos. or: there is little to appreciate when you wake up too late.
i can list the things i didn’t mean to do on two hands.
—
This selection comes from Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire, available from Coconut Books. Purchase your copy here!
Angela Veronica Wong is the author of several poetry chapbooks. She is on the internet at http://www.angelaveronicawong.com.
T.A. Noonan is the author of several books and chapbooks, most recently four sparks fall: a novella (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, 2013) and, with Erin Elizabeth Smith, Skate or Die (Dusie Kollektiv, 2014). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Reunion: The Dallas Review, West Wind Review, Hobart, Ninth Letter, and Phoebe, among others. A weightlifter, crafter, priestess, and all-around woman of action, she serves as the Associate Editor of Sundress Publications, Founding Editor of Flaming Giblet Press, and Literary Arts Director for the Sundress Academy of the Arts.
