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1
We stayed in a dirty hotel.
Rooms along the shore
and we didn’t get sick.

2
Just down the street
flew thousands of rare birds
though I didn’t know it.
They’re bringing the trolley back,
said someone on local TV.

3
The room was hours
as long as we wanted.
We both blushed.
Our first meal was
cigarettes
and beer
and Rold Golds.

4
The second was a
Thanksgiving fiasco
at an old hotel.     Savior
in the form of bread pudding
I ate the next morning
with a plastic fork in
blue Friday light.
A&M played Texas.
We happened upon “Carnivale.”

5
Even though restaurants
not far away advertised creole
as we walked along The Strand
and I asked,
“Does this remind you of New Orleans?”