How, tonight, a Detective Sergeant’s Wife will have her sadness taken from her
Leaning back, sipping coffee to keep awake,
he’s evaluating witness statements, incident reports
of suspected criminal activity, photos of indistinct footprints,
and knows from the chatter of Neighbourhood Officer mates
even pensioners at the Bowling Club now anxiously believe
Something hovered in the aisle in Sainsbury’s late at night
behind a widow whose gin bottles chinked in her basket
before she stopped, chuckled, returned each to the shelf.
And he lives there, too, so believes witnesses are reliable,
knows in the pub near closing time there’s loud whispers
saying more than the cloths of window-cleaners touch windows,
that an invisible creature emerges from the bushes after dusk
before a head leans forward, breathes on the double glazing…
and now, as he’s reading, arms slide through the glass
to lightly hug his wife who’s sobs close to closed blinds
then, without knowing why, turns and feels calm.
Bob Cooper has had seven pamphlets published – six of them winning competitions. He’s also had two full length collections published, one by Arrowhead then another with Pindrop in 2017 – see: http://www.pindroppress.com/books/Everyone%20Turns.html