The Art of Tipping
The Eastern European concierge
can’t hide his billionaire-stare’s
disappointment as the revolving
doors deliver me: small change
at the ready should my cheap case
require his studied servility.
A dance of mauled politesse
gets us into the lift’s awkwardness –
Freed from its stifling proximity,
we’re ignored by chambermaids lugging
sheets along the featureless corridors
of lower floors, far beneath the suites.
He wheels my case in, hands me
the key with patronizing expectancy.
Yes, thank you, yes… I mumble,
my hand extended too soon,
something more than insubstantial
in its clammy, proffered pound.
Craig Dobson’s had poems in The London Magazine, North, Rialto, Agenda, Stand, New Welsh Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Under the Radar, Orbis, Butcher’s Dog, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Salzburg Review, Frogmore Papers, Boscombe Revolution and Bad Kid Catullus pamphlets and Poetry Daily website.