Page 40 - Leftovers V2

Hotel Majestic
Emboldened by neon,
two dragon boats spar for attention
like spoiled teenagers on the serpentine river, where mortars blazon the lunar new year.
Inside, apricot wine, ancestral rice cakes,
and three dan bau players
fortify weak-kneed men who court would-be wives, very discreetly — of course — as is the custom.
Nothing impedes the promising occasion.
Not a small faux pas. Not her playing hard to get. Not even that fortuneteller who murmurs,
“She’s not the one.”