Taking HRT at The Neon Sign Museum, Las Vegas
Popped tubes and leaking neon.
Lucky, Golden Gate, Circus-Circus,
half illuminated Happy Days.
Scorching pinks turned to blues,
stiletto heels snapped to slippers,
bright night shine, dull by dusk.
The retired neon sign place.
On the edge of the The Lady
where sand meets cement.
Caution is needed, they can be flammable,
too much direct desert heat on the tubes
can make them bubble, sometimes crack
We usually stop it happening with chemicals.
Heat Reducing Termination is one of the best.
According to Ed, the Manager – Asset Neutering.
Apparently a steady, balanced amount
keeps the colours and burbles muted
and the liquid still, cool and controlled.
Jane Thomas has been published widely and commended in The Poetry Society Stanza Competition in October 2020. Last summer she completed a residency at NAHR (Val Taleggio). She has just finished a diploma in creative writing at the University of Oxford. She is an active member of The Oxford Stanza and an occasional reviewer for Sphinx.