The Woodpecker

kok, kok, kok

We heard him every night when we tried to act like we were sleeping
Eyelids squeezed tightly shut
bed sheets soaking the sweat that poured from us
labored breathing and swallowed spittle

kok, kok, kok

Why did we hear him only when we went to bed
when our parent’s raised voices had quietened down to tensioned silence
when the windows should not have let anyone in
when the birds outside where hooting themselves to sleep

kok, kok, kok

It had to be a man, it had to be
We refuse to believe that it was anything else
but we stayed in bed and feared to look
who knew what would be shook

kok, kok, kok
Our big brother was home from school
what is this noise that scared us so?
And so he went to take a look
ahoy! It was the cat and his curiosity
he’d loved the sounds of shoes on wood.