Hate Hotel poem

[AmberLee]

Hi all,

I enjoy reading the articles posted online by MSN's Slate magazine. Each Tuesday they post a poem ... usually I'm not too taken with them.

This last week's poem had many strange to me images of hate. I can't say I liked it, but found it very thought-provoking. I'll post it here, if you don't mind. I hope no one finds it too disturbing.

Are any of you familiar with this poet/his works? Is this typical for him?

[AmberLee]

Hate Hotel
By Tony Hoagland
Updated Tuesday, February 18, 2003, at 10:19 AM PT

Listen <http://cagle.slate.msn.com/media/15/Hate_Hotel.wma> to Tony Hoagland reading this poem.


Sometimes I like to think about the people I hate.
I take my room at the Hate Hotel, and I sit and flip
through the heavy pages of the photographs,
the rogue's gallery of the faces I loathe.
My lamp of resentment sputters twice, then comes on strong,
filling the room with its red light.
That's how hate works-it thrills you and kills you
with its deep heat.
Sometimes I like to sit and soak
in the Jacuzzi of my hate, hatching my plots
like a general running his hands over a military map-
and my bombers have been sent out
over the dwellings of my foes,
and are releasing their cargo of ill will
on the targets below, the hate bombs falling in silence
into the lives of the hate-recipients.
From the high window of my office
in the Government of Hate,
where I stay up late, working hard,
where I make no bargains, entertain no
scenarios of reconciliation,
I watch the hot flowers flare up all across
the city, the state, the continent-
I sip my soft drink of hate on the rocks
and let the punishment go on unstopped,
-again and again I let hate
get pregnant and give birth
to hate which gets pregnant
and gives birth again-
and only after I feel that hate
has trampled the land, burned it down
to some kingdom come of cautery and ash,
Only after it has waxed and waned and waxed all night
only then can I let hate
creep back in the door. Curl up at my feet
and sleep. Little pussycat hate. Home sweet hate.

[Fuzzy317]

that was an odd poem

[Soledad]

Odd, but valid. Who doesn't get full of anger and hate? We may not be proud of it, or want to admit it, but that's why we have poetry...to explore all those dark areas of human existence. Right?

[Nomilynn]

That's an amazing poem! The images work on a lot of levels. For example, the government ones - I imagined them as my own self government being overcome with emotion rather than thinking about things rationally. It also seems to validate those times when you want to stew in your own misery - makes it less insane and shows how it can be healthy.

[Ann]

I thought it had a very good point and good imagery. I especially liked the line "That's how hate works-it thrills you and kills you" because it's so true.

I can't answer your question though since this is the first I've read by this author, but I do know poems like these are common. I worked for years at a sub-culture (mainly gothic) website as the poetry coordinator and the majority of the ones submitted to me were about similar topics.

[iceyshiver21]

TALENT!! PURE TALENT!! The topic was so true, so.........BEYOND TRUE!