Smiling at a Hotel Bar Window

by Bernard Henrie
The Writer's Block
Honorable Mention, May 2017
Judged by R.T. Castleberry


The year I came for you
handsome as the Prince of Wales,
a flat torso; my yellow slicker
glistening with storm water;

New girls replace your smile,
waving from a bar hotel window,
the dying voice of a waiter
in a corridor lit with a 40-watt bulb.

A gown slipping to the floor.
A gifted watch, haute horlogerie
sold in Paris at Patek Philippe & Co.
You spoke no more French than that.