Hotel

Thick, hotel-room robe

TV blaring

flicking through channels

Searching for something in English

The sounds of foreign words somehow soothing

nonetheless

Voices that comfort after long flight

A strange theory about microbes

I met someone at a philosophy conference once

Who suggested that we are tired after a plane flight

In spite of not moving or exerting physical force

Due to the work our microbes were doing

To fight off the microbes of other passengers

I smiled and nodded, not quite sure

What a microbe was

I had a vague idea

It was a living thing

That I couldn't see

It had a job to do

And at the end of the day

Would take a bath And wear a robe

Invisible sliding things

or floating, or warring

or dividing, or performing

alchemy, converting matter into energy

or transporting

or signalling

or speaking in foreign tongues

Through a tinny, cheap TV speaker.