Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

An army of policemen on the stairs,
sharpshooters with their trusty weapons poised:
Inside, like a lion in his lair,
a Puerto Rican man, a little boy,
a gun. This happens every day, and not
just in the slums, not only in New York,
but everywhere. It forms the central plot
for thrillers on the screen. A shot goes off,
the man is dead, the child saved. They make
it simple on the screen. The man’s a killer
so he gets what he deserves. You see his face –
it’s evil through and through. This is a thriller
and you’re thrilled. That’s not what happened here.
Just a rejected husband, full of fear.

Outside in a truck, a telephone;
an Italian cop gently talking to him.
This will take hours. The cop wants to go home.
The shooters on the stairs would like to shoot him,
but the boy’s inside. You never can
be sure. They have to follow orders. There’s
a guy in charge who’s working out a plan.
He will keep them silent on the stairs
if it takes all night. She takes the phone,
the woman cop; hears the lion waver.
What will they do if he comes out alone,
his weapon down? They only want to save the
boy, he knows. He only wants his wife:
to say goodbye, and then it’s goodbye, life –

his life and the boy’s! To make front page!
Then he’ll be remembered. Now they hear
the moment of surrender. He’s spent his rage
and now wants out at any price. Tears
of sorrow and self pity clog the wires.
Her helmet on, the woman cop climbs past
the men with guns. Today they won’t be fired.
The men are glad. Astonishing, how fast
their terminal expressions turn to smiles.
The superintendent has a word to say:
‘Go home. You can be proud. If just one child
is saved ... I’m not a man who often prays,
but in the Talmud’ (this, only in New York!)
‘When you save a life, you save the world.’