Lake of Mistakes

Pieces of Styrofoam float in a lake
under the water
a girl’s naked dead body is found
she was raped then drowned

The cops make jokes
as they examine her remains
she couldn’t be more then seventeen

I hear them say:
“What a sweet piece of ass"
"Such a waste”

The cops are grotesque
fat and bald

Another cop replies:
“She still gets me hard”

One cop lifts her right foot
and then her left
looking between her toes
scrapping dirt from under her nails

He glances up between her thighs
with an evil sneer
He licks his lips
as sweat forms on his brow

The night before the girl had dreamed
of graduation &
going to the prom

Now it’s all gone
and someday soon
she will barely be remembered
as if she'd never lived at all

The cop sits down by the girl
he looks like a huge white balloon in the sun

He bends his face toward her
and he believes
she smiled
but that can’t be

Can it?

A reporter watches from a distance
and scribbles some notes

I think to myself...
something very important is missing
maybe we've never
even had it here