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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE COLLAPSE OF THE TWO-RIVERS HOTEL, by SAADI YOUSSEF First Line: The desert is not far from it Alternate Author Name(s): Youssef, Saddi; Yusuf, Sa'di Subject(s): Hotels; Nostalgia; Ruins; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses | |||
The desert is not far from it and when the date palms sway into its rooms they become dusty like the water of the nearby river and the old pipes. Its three floors were built of gypsum and lime. The windows of thick English glass open to the garden bar and boats. Maybe the drive to here is shorter if you take the turn to the right… Maybe you would think: How beautiful these gardens are here. In the Two-Rivers Hotel we loved and gambled and learned how to maneuver around the poisonous liquors served in its rooms. One day we married and came back after the years reeled us. We came dragging our children to show them its gardens and we were worn by what we carried. We did not know about the gypsum and the lime… We did not feel the water dripping… and the roof… Ah, after the years reeled us we came back dragging our children to show them its gardens and we were worn by what we carried. July 25, 1974 First published in The Kenyon Review, Volume 22 #2 Spring 2000. www.kenyonreview.org/roth | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO WHAT THE MAGDALENE SAW by TIMOTHY LIU REMOVED AT THE MOMENT OF PERFECTION by TIMOTHY LIU MARRY AT A HOTEL, ANNUL ?ÇÖEM by HARRYETTE MULLEN THE KEEPER OF THE DEAD HOTEL by AGHA SHAHID ALI IN GEORGETOWN; HOLIDAY INN, WASHINGTON, D.C. by HAYDEN CARRUTH OUTSIDE ROOM SIX by LYNN EMANUEL KILLED IN ACTION by ISAAC ROSENBERG SANDHILL PEOPLE by CARL SANDBURG PLAINT OF THE DISGUSTED BRITON IN THE STATES by GEORGE SANTAYANA |
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