Michael Berton

Night in Recife

the hostel

next to the swampy river

is breeding mosquitos

it is run

by a syphilitic man

with a rheumy eye

he keeps no clocks

in the hostel 

all the travelers

must submit in writing

their philosophy of travel

in ten words or less

there are no screens

on the windows

the ceiling fans don’t work

brown water comes out

of the showers

at night

there is a low moan

that seeps through the walls

disturbing the guests’ sleep 

everybody wakes at sunrise

call hangover breakfast

blur on white bread

chicory coffee

and spoiled milk  

before checking out

all guests must

take a sandcrab

in their backpack

then let it loose

when they find an end

to their journey

the crab will find

its way back to the hostel

for the syphilitic man needs company

Michael Berton has had poems published recently in Caveat Lector, Opiate

Magazine, 2016 Texas Poetry Calendar, Fourteen Hills and Shot Glass Journal. He is the author of two collections of poems, Man! You Script The Mic. and No Shade In Aztlan. He lives in Portland, Oregon.