A Safe Place

A beam of solid blue light passes through the ceiling. I lie awake wondering, “Is this really happening?” Most nights an elderly woman knocks on the door and, without speaking, hands me two babies. “Where is there a safe place here?” I always want to ask. “Can you show me? If you can, I’ll go there.” Over her shoulder, I can just make out the mutilated silhouettes of wrecked cars and abandoned strip malls. Tonight, in addition, it’s raining, the rain hissing like poison gas from shower heads under which millions died. I know who the murderer is, but detectives are keeping an open mind.

Howie Good is the author of The Loser's Guide to Street Fighting, winner of the 2017 Lorien Prize and forthcoming from Thoughtcrime Press, and Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry.