something happened outside my house last night,
i don’t know what, it started when i was
asleep. there were bright lights when i woke up,
blue and red flashing police lights, police
car headlights and spotlights, footsteps running
clat-clat up the sidewalk right outside my
bedroom window, the silhouette of a head,
haircut like a police man’s haircut
silhouetted in the police lights on my
bedroom window curtain. and all at the same
time a police car turning and speeding
into the alley behind my house. you
can walk down this alley and pound on my
bedroom wall, i’m right there. and police car
headlights sweeping across my curtains.
a man’s voice saying stop! put your hands up!
and another man’s voice saying i was
just— this all happened real fast whatever
it was. less than a minute is all it took.
the police were on the street, their blue and red
lights flashing for a while longer. the police
helicopter came over, its searchlight
shining down on the alley and my wall
and my kitchen window, where i stood in
the dark inside my home, peeking out through
the blinds at i don’t know what. this morning
there were shattered beer bottles on the corner
down the street, near where the blue and red lights
were when i was at the kitchen window.
shards on the concrete just across from
the playground at the lutheran school,
next to my friend mary the retired
librarian’s house. me and mary
and the lutheran children, all safe now
in the bright daylight from we don’t know what.
(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)