The Three Mothers by Sean Woodard

after Dario Argento’s Suspiria, Inferno, and Mother of Tears
 

I Mater Suspiriorum

Within the dance academy you lie in waiting,
concealed by blue and crimson velvet walls,
each student pirouettes as if on a string
wrapped around your gangrenous finger.
Wine—or is it blood?—dulls their senses
and maggoty food poisons their bodies.
You are but a shadow on the wall, a name
to those who only see the outward façade—
until you break their bones, string them up
by their necks or bewitch them into your servitude.

II Mater Tenebrarum

Beneath the floorboard you sequester,
injecting lies into the building’s residents.
Lustful hearts, greedy hands, and inquisitive minds
lead to tragic ends by flame or severed neck.
Their horrid screams morph into your cackle,
as the mirror cracked reveals your true nature
under robes of deepest black.

III Mater Lachrymarum

Bloodstained cobblestones
taint the holy city of Rome.
Your whispers of despair corrupt
the minds of the weak and powerful.
They plummet from great heights
to their death; no proper burial
will be bestowed upon them.
Clothed in a red tunic, you gather
strength in the musty catacombs
while you amass your followers.