How to Be a Cop’s Wife
by Lindsey Warner
1.
Stay
to the side
as
thick boots pound through rooms
bullet
clicks into chamber
radio
blares “42- Edward-29 copy.”
Pray
everything is charged
no
keys are lost
car
battery isn’t dead
shirt
was white
enough.
2.
Stand
for your goodbye kiss
check
the pins are all on straight
breathe
out as tires squeal around the corner.
In
the evening, listen to faraway sirens as you fold clothes.
Slide
open a drawer and hear bullets click into each other,
run
your fingers under extra silver buttons and loose change
smell
the acrid stench of metal polish.
There.
The
sock’s match hidden beneath a box of condoms.
Bring
the socks together,
fold
the tops and leave them there,
next
to the soft skin of folded paper:
a
drawing by the other woman’s child.
3.
Fall
asleep imagining
buttons
flashing red and blue
in
front of the liquid night.
Awake
to the ratchet of handcuffs,
the
lock on the door.
Bio: Lindsey
Warner is an elementary art teacher. She has been writing poetry since she was
a teenager, which gave her quite a bit of time to get all the rotten,
angst-filled poetry out of her. She enjoys her creative life and her beautiful
son.