A Strange Comfort

There lies a strange comfort 

In the smell of hotel sheets, little bottles line the vanity 

Everything you need to clean but miniature. 

A fresh airplane, or perhaps a rented car, 

Not yet graced with the messes that real life presents 

No spilled drinks, or stray McDonald’s fries 

Littering the pristine floor 


Sink your feet into sand 

Or snow or clear flowing stream 

Feel fish pick apart the impurities 

In the very humanity they detest 

Drink a smoothie, inhale the smells 

Of sewage and wreckage and too much 

Laughing gas you took last night. 


Tie up your boots, smear the SPF 

Sit down for breakfast, pray the menu is in English 

Regret eating the eggs after hours on the toilet

“it’s a part of the experience” 

The guidebook drones on and on about where 

To go, what to see, who to talk to 

What’s safe for you, and where you are unwelcome 


But there lies a strange comfort 

In the mess of Serendipity beach in the raw mornings 

Cigarette butts and straws may impregnate the turtles

But at least you had a blast dancing on tables and

Cooking away chemicals in the heat of your bodies

You mock their accents, and eat their rice 

And provide their livelihood 


And you’ve never felt so strangely comfortable 

A home away from your home, a pleasant 

Welcoming unfamiliarity 

You wake in the morning, caressed by clean hotel sheets 

Rise and rinse and repeat with a tiny bottle

Wipe away the mist in the mirror, gaze into your glazed eyes,

I hope you feel uncomfortable.


Written by Adri Rocks


Author: Adri Rocks @arockspoetry
Header Art: Anne-Marie Dimanche @amdfwu