Poetry on Medium

Twenty-three

Monte Carlo, fourth of July

Co-created with DALL-E

the tie was maroon
Florence, I think
cheap enough to buy
good enough for Monte Carlo

inside
purple light
big mirrors
everything colder
than it needed to be

I kept moving
because standing still
felt worse

then the rule
two drinks minimum
twenty euros for each Coke

forty euros
I had eighteen

the staff moved through the room
in twos

near the bar
too near maybe
two of them
one on each side

nothing said

that was the part
I remember best
not the fear exactly
just how quiet it got
around me

in my head
already the phone call home
already my mother
already Monte Carlo
and a Coke