Fast Asleep in Landstuhl (Atzel) by Mark Antony Rossi

I sped off Ramstein Air Base
In my Volkswagen
The moment the barracks bored
The familiar spirit screaming inside
And found a small home to rent
In Landstuhl
a quaint village not far from work
It also contained a major
US Army Hospital
but I wanted more distance
I couldn’t conceive of walking home
After a night of drinking
And living that close
I wanted more distance
So I selected Atzel
It means height
It was the elevated hill part of town
Where a 800 year old castle
Still outfitted with a dungeon
Stood tall in the gloomy
German night.
I wanted to protect my writing
And choose to date women
Who had their own apartment.
I had my castle real and imagined
And I sensed my loneliness
Was really the muse fast asleep.

Mark Antony Rossi's poetry, criticism, fiction, creative nonfiction and photography have appeared in The Antigonish Review, Anak Sastra, Bareback Magazine, Black Heart Review, Brain of Forgetting, Deep Water Literary Journal, Dirty Chai, Enclave, Expound, Farther Stars Than, Flash Fiction, Gravel, Indian Periodical, Japanophile, Journal of Microliterature, Kulchur Creative Journal, Mad Swirl, On The Rusk, Purple Patch, Scrivener Creative Review, Sentiment Literary Journal, Snapdragon, Syzygy Poetry Journal, The Sacrificial, Toad Suck Review, Transnational, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Wild Quarterly and Yellow Chair Review. He is the Editor in Chief, Ariel Chart: http://arielchart.blogspot.com.