PURGATORY AT THE HOTEL DIEUX

HOTEL DIEUX is a rehab hospital in St. Catharines ON

PURGATORY AT THE HOTEL DIEUX

 

In the sparse lobby, beside a dented wall,

wheelchairs tryst under hum of prickly light;

lean fabric in accordion fold,

wheels locked, preventing drift,

titles stenciled: SH1, SH2,

the smaller red, the bigger blue,

parked in wait of fare.

Grey tires grasp terrazzo floor;

spokes murmur in metallic code

while anchored hopes reflect on wax.

Vacant corridors sleep; light recedes.

Pale windows filter powdered bird decay;

outside, the owl twists its head for prey.

Dreams of twilight clues:

stains that whisper hidden fear;

patch of blood and urine mix,

a pulse burns, catheters drip,  

canvas beds slag broken bones

from sickly steel and rusted chrome.

They ferry fractured dreams,

stumps that ooze,

lips forced tight like curtains.

In that ghastly night,

limbs grope and grate,

sliced  by a logger's axe,

wedges hammered into bone;

the purging pain of fire ¾

birds glow in crematorial dance

and rise from ash at dawn.