Carol M. Highsmith, Swimming Pool at the Del Marcos Hotel, Palm Springs, California, 2013
Digital photograph
Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress
“Give us the ugly duckling special,” I said
to the Vegas desk clerk, who sensed
we were grotesque. Nevertheless
we stayed because it was cheap.
Vendors sold carpets in the streets
like a sideshow with dust/sand
rising up. Heat baked concrete
& everything was white. It burned me.
My eyes shed. The clerk gave us free
meal passes & access to the pool,
which Sanctimonious, our poodle,
loved. Venetian ships poled past,
some black koi lurked, cast
shadows beneath the surface. Form/
double-form. Will sadness pervade
when we wake? “Look away”
you said, “it’s not for us,
this is man-made & spurious.”