an ordinary house in an upmarket
cobbled lane neighbours close by
across the street the well-to-do
have a window box with colourful
flowers
behind a closed door sounds
of beatings and screaming
the neighbours could hear
but perhaps they did not want to
listen
such a banal place for torture
invite the neighbours to dinner
ignore the sounds from upstairs
ignore the blood on the toilet
floor
O Susan!
ReplyDeleteImportant to remember these things happened, and do happen... at first reading I thought domestic violence, then it got darker to hint at more than that...
ReplyDeleteWhile I never knew there was such a thing as 'dark tourism', here is some more info on that evil place:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/15-countries/individual-chapters/296-londres-38
There is no corner of the world, no street in a city ...
ReplyDeletethanks for this, Susan
ReplyDeleteChilling. The alliteration and repetition of the final stanza really emphasises the horror.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's been an arduous trip. It reminds me how such horrors can happen in ordinary places and no one notices. Christa Wolf writes wonderfully baout this in her book, Model Childhood, writing about Germany from 1933 onwards.
ReplyDelete