From Part Five of Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire

HOW TO SURVIVE A HOTEL FIRE

The only way to become a bird is to set fire to the trees. Outside the snow starts melting and
inside I hide love affairs in closets. I’m doing this so I can sleep with men instead of dealing
with my hangnails. Each time we go through a tunnel, a star explodes. I’m cold but I can’t
stop looking in the mirror at bruises you didn’t give me. After removing the Dutch baby
from the oven, please marvel quickly as it will deflate in thirty seconds. But it’s the end, so
people tolerate things like that.

—

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.

 

From Part Five of Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire

HOW TO SURVIVE A HOTEL FIRE

The weird thing is I just had a dream about a hotel fire, and now that I think about it, I
probably didn’t do the right thing. What caught on fire? I can’t remember, but possibly a
lampshade, or a shirt in the bathroom. Anyway, I remember telling my roommates we had
to get out of there but then calculating that the fire was small enough so we had some time.
I thought: I’ll just grab my expensive purse and zip up my suitcase. But then it seemed there
was even more time, so I unzipped my suitcase and started packing. I thought briefly about
how sad it was I couldn’t rescue my toothbrush from the bathroom. But what about the
whiskey? For some reason there was a sign-in sheet for the room and one of my roommates
signed it when he came in. When there is a fire, you notice things like that.

—

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.

 

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.

 

From Part Three of Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire

In Which Our Heroine Recognizes Danger and Proceeds Anyway

When she said to him—
Out of all the dark-haired boys I’ve kissed you
are the one I want the most—

And when they spent the day in the kitchen, she
slicing the French loaf and he
unwrapping butter—

And when they
made love in the dark
for the first time—

That was when she thought: let
Carolina be Carolina, North
and South, but
I think this
could be a problem.

There is nothing that stops
a volcano from erupting and we are still
looking for ways to predict
its happening. Picking out which
are lies and which
are truths
is a bit like

distinguishing planets
from stars
in the sky.

—

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.

 

From Part Three of Angela Veronica Wong’s book how to survive a hotel fire

In Which Our Heroine Confesses a Fondness for Crusty Bread

It’s too hot for soup
but she makes it anyway, quartering an onion
and peeling carrots. The bubbling
in the pot and the rising heat.

She sweats under her tank top.

Everything she slides under her shirt slips
and stops
just below her breasts,
caught by flesh and fabric.

In the same way she collects airport codes
like key chains. She likes the idea of reducing
a collection of letters into an even smaller
collection of letters.

Why does she keep doing this, she wonders.

She is starting to realize there are lots of things she likes.

—

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.