Catherine Chandler's Poetry Blog

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Madison Street: Kidnapped!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kidnapped!

 

One summer, after dark, when all the bats

had come and gone, and we’d squeezed diamond rings

from lightning bugs we’d captured in a jar,

we heard the screeches  -- was it Mildred’s cats,

we wondered, or some drunken ding-a-lings,

or Davie torturing his steel guitar?


We didn't know the symbol of the Fates

could be a Chevy with New Jersey plates.

 

Our neighbor's brutal ex had forced his way

into her house and snatched young Jimmy, who

had just been put to bed. Somewhere, someday

the cops might get a tip and follow through;

that is, if Jimmy’s in the USA,

not spirited away to Timbuktu.

 


 

 

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