pranksters have been calling my dad and I
in the early morning
and leaving messages on the answering machine
we don’t know who they are
or what they look like
only
that they are ghosts
from my sister’s past
they like to call after midnight
and tell
how they’ve fucked her, how it’s
been done
they like to rap
about doing it to her
again
and what they'll do to us
eerily
the phone will ring and ring when it shouldn’t
and then I’ll hear their voices
downstairs
talking
to no one
in the dark
my dad sleeps in his room across the hall
next to the phone
and I stay up late, as usual
only now
I keep my 9mm loaded and
wait
for the sound of footsteps
or the bark of Boomer, the neighbor’s dog
or cars passing back and forth
too slowly
beneath my window
or
something else
I wait now
knowing that they
will probably never come for me or my dad
knowing that they
like most ghosts
don't want to appear
like most others
they exist only
to remind
until
the time comes
to drift on.