King Series 4 - 'The Dead Zone'

I

Winter, circa-1953:

Young John Smith wipes out on the ice,

Mumbling premonitions absently --

But prophecies demand a hefty price.

Adulthood comes, ice incident forgot,

And Mr. Smith (now teaching English class)

Falls again, this time in coma caught;

Four whole years in silence gently pass.

Meanwhile, in more rural atmosphere,

A Bible salesman, cursing 'neath his breath

Dreams of power and a rich career,

His enemies (like dogs) swift kicked to death.

Let's hope that by the time the two converge, 

Lest the whole world suffer in the scourge. 

----

II

Our scripture slinger's moved up in the world,

Not for lack of gerrymandery,

Bribes and blackmail -- round his finger twirled:

Those who present opportunity.

Mr. Smith meanwhile, wounds on the mend, 

Has gained a feature hitherto unseen:

By touching something, his senses bend,

And tell him things about where it's been.

Johnny's power works on people, too --

And this is where our adversaries meet --

On shaking hands, John knows what he must do:

A murder, lest his rise to pow'r complete!

The question, as his looming panic mounts:

Can he pull the trigger when it counts?

----

III

Trying to return to normal life

(Despite his death just one more poem from here),

Pain creeps in -- a dull and rusty knife --

Filling Johnny's heart with dread and fear. 

A phone call, asking Johnny for his aid,

Which he'll do, despite his urge to balk;

The hunt is on, with little progress made:

A killer prowls the town of Castle Rock. 

Of course, John puts his psychic skills to use

To catch the Strangler, put him in a cage

Where no one else can suffer his abuse,

Or endure his mindless, hungry rage. 

But, despite the truth of Johnny's hunch,

The Strangler's dead (he beat them to the punch). 

----

IV

While John recovers from the Strangler case,

Our villain (now the Mayor of his town,

Elected through his lies and grinning face),

Dissatisfied, decides to double down. 

Questions plague poor Johnny's fractured mind:

Would Hitler's death in 1932

Prevent the worst mass death in humankind,

Or would that lead to somewhere hellish too?

Johnny's visions turn to dark nightmares --

Even as his health deteriorates --

Repulsed by just the thought of such affairs,

Johnny must become the thing he hates...

And yet he knows, despite his fear and doubt,

He's got to hurry -- time is running out. 

----

V

When the moment comes for him to act,

John summons all the courage he can wield,

Fires a shot that fails to make contact --

And villain grabs a child, for human shield --

The pregnant pause that follows is enough

For John to take two bullets from the guards;

Falling to the ground with wheezing chuff,

His life collapsing like a house of cards...

And that's when Johnny hears the camera clicks,

And knows his target's done with politics.

----

 <fin>

- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.

- "The Dead Zone" is © Stephen King, 1979.