Dubious detour

I arrived as the wake of the last ferry
disappeared into the hazy horizon.
Precious time away from the classrooms
in South Korea, I was there,
turvy-topsy, downside-up.

My weekend escape had snagged,
the next ferry was in the morning,
so I spent the night, another one,
there. My mental malevolence rose

meandering the streets looking for a bed,
I decided to go at that moment
to a sauna. Wonderful! Highly recommended.
Spas flow to hot rooms through to pools all reclining
but naked. Know one told me.
I was different, they told me.

Classy 'cheese', the décor spread over
four floors, cream marble, football fields
of rooms: massage, DVD, internet, karaoke.
When not near the water dressed in matching, not quite cotton,
simple shorts and t-shirts. Women all in pink, men in baby blue.
Children in green, light and free to roam, unrestrained,
just without their desks and chairs.

Families and friends spend the evening at the sauna.
I could hardly sleep all sprawled and scattered
on a heated floor, no beds, no mats, just one
marble slab to tolerate and a wooden block, my pillow,
waiting for the ferry.