Bear

At the hotel that was a brothel and haunted 
by ladies of the night, a hand shushed 

over sleeping men’s mouths. The windows open 
to the alleyway where a man is chasing 

a woman with the sound of his voice, my friends 
smoking underneath the awning also hear it all, 

I refrain from responding when the man yells 
“you’re all jelly, no toast” and we can’t 

decide if it’s criticism or compliment, but another 
man quiets the riffraff into a taxi. My friend 

shares a meme asking would you rather encounter 
a bear or a strange man in the woods?

I answer—the Rorschach blooms from a lit cigar 
against my thighs remind me nothing of spring.

—

Megan Merchant (she/her) is the Editor of Pirene’s Fountain and holds an M.F.A. degree from UNLV. She is a visual artist and author of four full-length poetry collections, four chapbooks, and a children’s book. Most recently, she was awarded the New American Poetry Prize.

Art by Hermann Rorschach.

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Hotel Monte Vista, Room #306