Hotel Fantastique

By Al Ferber

Hotel Fantastique was built in the early part of an unknown century in a part of a city that was on the edge of a town that was on the outskirts of every dream that was ever dreamt or would ever be dreamed to provide asylum and sanctuary for fugitives from the Killing Fields and the Land of the Screaming Leaves. It is owned and operated by all of those who would be so bold as to trade their grand or meager kingdoms for a dream and send out invitations to all points in geography, space and time. Gus

I think it (Hotel Fantastique) is fantastique.....it should be known by the faculty who teach medical ethics clinical care. Spencer M. Marcus, M. D.

Well its a bit pricey.....its in a part of town that used to be nice but has become quite seedy....I like that it is near theaters and museums as well as some very fine restaurants...but I still have to explore some of the adjacent alleys.......Herbert L. Martin, Artist, Educator

Book me a suite. I hear that Jean-Paul is making a guest appearance this weekend. Is it true? Do I have to bring my own lesbians, or are they provided?" Jack Friedel, Speech Therapist

Hotel Fantastique is really taking my imagination on a ride....I love it! Melissa Apsche, Writer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 28, 2003
• ISBN: 9781462844579

Al Ferber

Al Ferber a septuagenerian going on 13. Born. Regrettably… A North Philly kid. Survived education at Temple U., Penn State, Villanova U. Alcoholic 30 years. Sober 23 years. Indenture servant to Catherine the Great 34 years. Learned to love and appreciate cats and one dog. Authored 30 books of poems, 2 novels, 3 chap books. Poems in Magazines in U.S., England, Scotland, France. Still alive, on the downward path of the sliding board, as of this writing. An undocumented alien in the world. Resides Ocean City, NJ surrounded by water with Cathi, Luna, Mitzi, and Opal. So there.

Book preview

HOTELFANTASTIQUE

Al Ferber

Cover Photo by Joanne GormanCopyright © 2003 by Al Ferber.

ISBN : Softcover 1-4010-8994-1

eBook 9781462844579

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

17346

Contents

Introduction

Markers

About Norman Newberg

Hotel Fantastique

Cloud Cover

Lab Rat

Ballroom Dancing

Distant Voices

Fred & Ginger

Incurable Passion

Bold Strokes

Leftovers

Matter Of Time

Nairobi Trio

Vending Machine

Self Restraint

Extreme Unction

Small Potatoes

Surprise Package

Unfair Advantage

Sublime Madness

Grizzly Bear

Dog & Pony

Rose On 9th Street

Picasso

In Congress

Nocturne

Feast & Famine

Mortality Play

Nightingale

Baggage Check

Fitness Program

Holding Cell

Rules Of Engagement

Monster

Angel Of Mercy

Gratuity System

The Ugly Side

Angel Of Death

Country Night

Empty Chair

Self Winding

Hymnals

Questionnaire

Picture Books

Amnesia Park

Well Springs

Amazon Queen

Itchy Twitchy Feeling

Compared To What ?

Memory Lane

Leisure Suite

Lost Dreams

Present Tense

Hall Of Shame

Rapacious Predator

En Route

Love Potion #9

Sirens

Period Piece

Rain Dance

Unintelligible

The Fall Of Babylon

Thinking Back

Season Of The Witch

Urban Renewal

Smoke Signals

Reclamation Project

Raptor

Chef’s Special

Spontaneous Combustion

Tropical

Trade Aways

The Unborn

Social Critique

Room Service

Dancing Queen

Bad Hair Day

Freedom Of Speech

Kaleidoscope

Dead Or Alive

Marilyn

Back Seat Lothario

Elephant Grass

Olive Branch

Philosophers Den

Breakfast In Bed

Ruby Slippers

Infirmities

Ruebens

Deformities

Dressing Room

Aesthetics

Hello Dali

Free Wheeling

Short Form

Burning Bush

O Holy Night

Dust Bowl

Hall Of Mirrors

Super Natural

Supra Natural

Wizardry

11 OClock News

Under Hand

Composition

Erection Sets

Elective

Lightning

Circles

Parallels

Killing Fields

Stultification

Romeo & Juliet

Smokey The Bear

Hansel & Gretel

Women & Children First

Barking Dogs

Below Zero

Bethlehem Night

Closing In

Razor Cut

Decisive Action

Indecent Exposure

Ghost

Fortune Cookie

Begging For It

Anthem

Weeping Willow

Composer

Double Zero

Majorette

Screaming Leaves

Blades Of Grass

Village Idiot

Affliction

Infirmary

Balls Balls & More Balls

Philistine

Passionate Voices

Flower Child

Cloak & Dagger

Ferryman

Silent Night

Tilting Windmills

Voices Calling

Tally Sheet

Mannequin

Apprehensible

Breakout

Gathering Notions

Sacred Heart

Game Hunt

Outbreak

Rain Forest

About the Author

Also by Al Ferber

for Cathistill & everthe enigma of my lifewho has suffered mein sickness

lo these many years&

Norman Newberg

my mentorwho I will never beable to thank properlyfor introducing meto writingand my own world of

nightmares&

glorious dreams

Introduction

Hotel Fantastique was built in the early part of an unknown century in a part of a city that was on the edge of a town that was on the outskirts of every dream that was ever dreamt or would ever be dreamed to provide asylum and sanctuary for fugitives from the Killing Fields and the Land of the Screaming Leaves. It is owned and operated by all of those who would be so bold as to trade their grand or meager kingdoms for a dream and send out invitations to all points in geography, space and time.

Gus

Markers

by Norman Newberg

He is wrong, a poet proclaims.

"keeping that agony alive deadens.

I’m not talking about the facts.

Facts are permanent and must be told.

But there is something hopeless about opening

An incurable affliction—

Like showing a doctor a terrible wound

And feeling comforted by its uniqueness."

A silent author looks dumblyInto survivors eyes and says,Words fail.I don’t trust words.I have nothing to say.

Grass grows through the corpses.

And the corpses vibrate a warm light

Nudged by a healing breeze.

Each blade records a life that should have lived

And lives.

Grass markers say more than grave stones.Remember the grass.Keep it holy.

About Norman Newberg

Norman Newberg is a Senior Fellow in the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. He is also Executive Director of the Say Yes to Education Foundation that provides scholarship awards and educational support to low income minority students interested in pursuing a post secondary education. Dr. Newberg is the recipient of the Alfred North