It is the old trick,
used in horror films,
where brooding strings
ghostly footprints
create terror,
only for it to vanish,
when a cat screeches into sight,
or a bus roars around the corner,
and the audience jumps.
Two seconds later,
the real horror emerges.

So much in life is a Lowton Bus,
or a lost cat,
but there are times,
like in Jaws with the body in the boat,
or when the alien bursts out of John Hurt’s chest,
where the actors aren’t prepared, and their reactions
are real ones of terror,
designed for the audience.

So much of the news is this,
where the softer stories are pushed,
to the front, and the worse ones,
the ones we don’t even think about are
kept hidden, for even the experts are too scared
of the consequences of them being revealed.