The Poetry Hotel is getting solicitation mail to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards, buy liability and all sorts of insurance, linen service, hotel equipment and several times, even phone reservation for stay! They don’t know this is a hotel of the imagination, conceived by the ever imaginative Carlos Ramirez one summer evening in 2004 as we (Dan Brady, Carlos and I) passed by the Marriott on Market Street. Dan and I heartily endorsed the idea and whommm, the hotel was built!
Or maybe these solicitation mail do know that this is not a “real” hotel but imagine that it could be real at some point, and they want to make sure they are the first ones to get the business.
Doing business also requires imagination.
Imagine paying for a night at the hotel with a poem…
The Poetry Hotel
At the Civic Center Bart Station
Carlos, Dan and I had a vision
to take possession of the Mission Street Marriott
after we win the lottery.
We will renovate the building
knock everything down to its bones.
With imagination, joy, and persistence
we give birth to the Poetry Hotel.
When you enter the Poetry Hotel,
observe the grand reception hall.
Poets check in with a poem
check out with a new chapbook.
The ground floor is reserved for first drafts
the second floor is for revision.
From the third to the twentieth floor
there are chutes and ladders built especially
for the out of bound writers.
All the rooms have the essential
desk, chair and bed,
an unlimited supply of paper, and
ink gel pens to write.
There are numerous libraries
each named after a poet.
Collection of works are readily available
for reference, research and read.
As for dining, the Poetry Café
serves daily a scrumptious buffet.
Muffins, puddings and all sorts of pies,
thick soups, black coffee, exotic teas
to nurture the poetic belly.
Every evening there is a gathering
new and old poems are read.
Cakes and champagne are served afterwards
to celebrate the creation of words.
This enterprise is run so successfully
it is franchised throughout the world.
All the poets in this planet
come home to the Poetry Hotel.
Carlos, Dan and I blinked
as we stepped into the train.
It was filled with sleepy people
who wanted to get home quick.
Days of work and nights of toil
weaken our eyes and hearts
But tonight we lay the cornerstone
for the Poetry Hotel.
