Hotel Hoarder
Paris Rosemount
I wish to remain anonymous
in this confession of compulsive
hotel hoarding. It fills me
with such shame – though not enough
to stop me from stuffing my pockets
with random bits of contraband
I don’t even need. Eagerly tearing open
sachets - thrill of the rush
as though they were condom wrappers
with their promise of a good time.
Little packets of coffee, tea, sugar,
Equal – I can’t even
explain the Equal – I never use that stuff;
take it anyway. Can’t leave behind anything that isn’t
bolted down. The bathroom sweep nets
tiny tubes of toiletries and more vanity
kits than I would ever need in a lifetime. Why?
I hear my mother’s voice whisper ‘Because
it’s FREE. Your grandparents struggled through the war.
They would have wanted you to take
what they didn’t have’, as though that explained
everything. And so, armed with this warped logic, I stockpile
little offerings to appease my ancestors:
in spiritus sanctus to the Goddus Hoardus.
Amen.
But lo! One day I check in
to my hotel to find the horror
of change. No more miniature
bottles on the faux marble vanity.
Instead, great ghastly pump dispensers
affixed to the wall: for the sake
of the environment, the label decrees, to cut
down on plastic waste. Cut down on costs
more like it, I scoff to myself, sweating
like an addict deprived of a hit.
I momentarily consider
whether I should subvert the system,
decant some of the soapy
goop into my own empty shells
of tiny toiletries past.
But no! It is time to change
with the climate. The cycle
stops.
With.
Me.
Paris Rosemont is an Asian-Australian poet who combines her love for poetry and theatre into the exploration of the art of performance poetry. Her poetry was selected by Red Room Poetry for publication in Upswell’s anthology ‘Admissions’, alongside established writers, musicians and notable public figures. Paris’ poetry was also longlisted for the Joyce Parkes Writing Prize 2022 and will appear in the Heroines Anthology (vol.4.). Paris is a WestWords 2022 Academian, in-house writer in residence and a Frontier Poetry scholarship recipient. She was also on the judging panel for the Living Stories Competition 2022. Paris recently won a Varuna National Writers’ House Emerging Writers’ Residency as well being awarded a place in the Arts Access Australia Mentorship and Professional Development Program 2022