Poem number 16.
Nightmare 2 – Trapped in a Cheap Hotel
The flashing neon sign reads H TE
Electric buzz, barking dog, breaking bottle
A shopping trolley noses the entry door
The disconsolate receptionist
The ancient lift
The dingy, dimly lit corridor
The chipped door frame
The room number missing a digit
The worn carpet smelling of fetid feet, crackling with shed skin
The plastic sign on the back of the door listing seventeen rules for residents
The plastic chair with worn arms
The curtains that don’t meet in the middle
The cracked shower tiles
The harsh neon light above the mirror making your reflection grey and menacing
The toilet bowl stained by a thousand bowel motions
The TV with nothing but shopping channels and bad talent shows
The tea-cup missing its handle.
The kettle that threatens electrocution
The thin walls etched with arguments and suppressed moans
The crooked picture of a tropical island
A remnant of a sad memory hovering at the edge of consciousness.
__________________________
Copyright Mike Hopkins 2013
mistakenforarealpoet 
Sounds great. Where can I make a booking?!
Just send my $50 rob. I can recommend any one of dozens just around Adelaide.
Do they have a loyalty program? Sign me up! Hope you weren’t staying in that H TE in Melbourne! 🙂
The one in Melbourne was ok. But there were some aspects that brought back bad memories.
I know that place. It was called the ‘Hotel Select’ in downtown Cairo, and was selected only by idiots who didn’t know better and flying cockroaches…
Love how these hotels often give themselves grand names. The Select indeed.
Great poem, but I may never walk the corridors of a motel again without thinking about ‘The worn carpet smelling of fetid feet, crackling with shed skin,’ James
Wear your wellies James.
This chain even has a presence in Meningie.