Little Danny sees

a hotel and trees

his father, not nice

the typewriter like ice

to the touch.

 

Twins lure him to play

in a bloodied hallway

where they want him to stay

forever.

 

A pus-bloated woman

beckons, an omen

of the wringing to come

his neck turning plum

and yellow-ochre.

 

Tony, his friend

foresees the bitter end

now the boy can defend

against mom’s murder.

 

But there is a man

who sees spirits like Dan

and helps through like-vision

to escape the prison

of skeletal demons and sin.

 

“Here’s Johnny,” Jack said

his eyes bloodshot red

door splintered revealing

Mom’s terrified visage.

 

The spirits haunt Jack

son wanders, backtracks

in the maze, no way back

the beast is frozen.

 

– Sandra Johnson, 6/26/2021

 

(Credit: “Here’s Johnny” and characters from Stephen King’s The Shining)