TWO LIVES
I knew that she was there
in the flat
above the nondescript shop
that door at the side,
twenty nine
knew she was in there
and that she pressed down the bed
a chair
touched handles
make - up
a mirror looking back
I knew these things
and that when she was quite ready
would be through that door
to the left or right
heel turning
smoothing her dress at the hips
checking tiny things
like being ready for the world,
I knew these things and
would know more.
A nasty business this one
she died of asphyxia
chest compression
signs of petechiae
no marks on the throat
he must have been a sizeable fella.
I reckon she must have known the ropes
how to please a man for money
got caught up the way many do.
Must have been pretty
before this.
Home all alone
They check her phone
back at the station
usual procedure
alert forensics
relatives to be found and told
as the vital organs of justice
start to unfold.
raypool
Sat 24th Sep 2016 11:42
Thanks Stu, a sense of location and dislocation is just what I was after, well spotted. Sorry you lost that comment!
elP I'm pleased you felt an impact - a bit out on a limb for me. Thanks.
David, that's a fine point about the professional view of such horrors; do you develop a separation of emotion, I couldn't really say. I just wanted to highlight the regret and the waste.
Suki, I read the JCC poem and I get your point ! There is a more florid context and that really fleshes out the theme, that is wonderful poetry indeed.
Harry, thanks for making that observation. I don't go in for that treatment as a rule, but it seemed to serve a purpose. Exactly the separation of personal and professional I was after.