Hotel for the Dead

by Ian Li

When ochre mists descend, my grandparents ascend,

tired of rotting pine caskets, untethered

from their heavy headstones, strolling hand in hand

as they once did on morning walks by the muddy creek.

But now they seek a hallowed hotel’s somber silhouette

within a haze of memories and regrets.

Into humus-dusted hallways they file,

gleaming skeletons clacking like tap shoes

as they waltz into a gilded ballroom, foxtrotting

across blood-glazed floors with deathly grandeur.

They swirl their empty wine glasses, clink forks and knives

against bare plates atop dining tables covered with silken palls.

Sated, they sink into bone-white sheets,

cradled in a comfort they never splurged on in life.

The next day, I find them back in their graves

with well-rested smiles, as if they never left.

Ian Li (he/him) is a Chinese-Canadian economist, developer, writer, and poet, who started writing in late 2023 after a lifetime of believing he could never be creative. He also enjoys spreadsheets, statistical curiosities, and brain teasers. Find his work published in Nightmare Magazine, Small Wonders, and Strange Horizons, among other venues. Learn more at https://ian-li.com or find him on Bluesky @ianli.bsky.social.