Just Like Life

life imitates criminal minds

the tv show

sometimes I can watch

sometimes I can’t

my daughter says

mom its just a tv show

but often the images

hang on too long in my brain

playing out in the middle of the day

or when I walk alone

life imitates art

headlines

bombs blood guns

i drive to owatonna

sleepy owatonna

home of bullies at schools

meth

that kind of typical 

american pain and

violence

i drive into town on bridge street

cars pull over obediently to 

the sound of sirens

a cop car

another

then dark suv’s just like the fbi

just like criminal minds

just like this week

all over the news

i get to my daughter’s home

oh yeah, she says, 

they’re after some guy from faribault

neighboring town

15 miles north

he stabbed his girlfriend

and torched a car

sure enough

they find him in a field

a little after one

in owatonna east off of bridge

we passed law enforcement

driving into town 

at one on a sunday

afternoon

sleepy little town wakes up

to more violence

just like tv 

no one says

mom its just a tv show