31 days of halloween | overlook

While I had planned to release it before Halloween, this little series of poems based on The Shining needs a little more polishing before the entirety is available to read.  Here, however, is a perfect little sampling of what is coming in the next few months. 

from OVERLOOK

1.

 

In the middle of the ballroom is a chair.

Hallway after hallway filled with broken

balloons and faded streamers.  Have a drink

if you dare. Whiskey straight,  thin

on the ice. Nice to see you.

 

Nicer still to feel you wandering

the corridors, hands out touching

the walls. All the falling down staircases

and baseball bat wielding wives

is nothing if not for miles of terrible carpet

we laid over even more terrible carpet.

 

It was covered in blood.  The flood

of a thousand unhappy feet walking

from the bed to the door. One man

shot himself in the  bathroom,

but still it's glorious, all archways

and celadon dreams. Who can haunt

something so very pretty, so very sticky

with time and faux fur rugs.  Your tug

on the whiskey makes a sucking sound

that echoes through the Gold Room.

 

Stay awhile, your hands are already wet with ink.