W. Joe Hoppe
Nightwalking in the Camp of the Nuns
Omega Retreat Center and Benedictine Convent
Boerne, TX
I can't help but feel like a beast
walking down this long dark corridor
red Exit sign at the far end
my claws clicking
on the shiny floor
I'm taller within solitude
the muscles in my shoulder roll
past dorm rooms sleeping
like miniature villages
To tiger through the burning night
rain into steam beneath my feet
put the ex in that Exit sign
there's more than one way out now
Haloed by black buzzard wings
a diligent soap smell
sticks to my hands
from the doorknobs I'll shake
in a frog-throbbing night
in a cricket melee
I'll roll tokens under every door
to be redeemed at the festival of dreams
Then bend the rattling A/C ducts
into a thrill-filled carnival ride
for the sisters to stand till dawn in line
But now a face in a communal mirror
blurry and human
bolted right to the wall
illuminated
by a fluorescent bulb
W. Joe Hoppe's poems, What Are You Doing This Saturday Night? and For Us Toiling Away
Probably Not to Become Rich and Famous were in the very first issue of Gumball Poetry.
He continues to
teach English, Humanities, and Creative Writing at
Austin (TX) Community College and strive to be a good
dad to Max, who's now in kindegarten. He has better
tattoos than any other poet ever published by Gumball Poetry (or so he says, know otherwise? email us). Recently he created a poetry video, you can see it here.
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