Blue Lights (Edit #2)

[dukealien]

I walk my dog along these same streets every day.
But today, where I always turn right,
I veer left. Nice, suggests to me the dog is pulling him toward the spot.

We stroll past the spot
where they found Carlos last night,
bloody, but held together and could "and" be cut?
curled up like a baby. so far we don't know what's doing the damage, good suspense
Four years ago, a thousand feet north,
Paul’s body broke apart
and they washed it away. okay, so probably not narcos killing them
But I wonder if some part of him slightly wicked - maybe change to avoid thoughts of "they missed a toe"
still remains there
in the air
or between the stones.

My dog sniffs the rails and ballast, cut "the" for flow?
then lifts his leg to piss
on the ground. or "where he lay," but existing line also has its points - switch to impersonal

Railroads are dangerous, especially if used other than as designed (hopping cars, sleeping in the yards).  Took me until the last stanza to get the whole scene ("Where's the rest of me/him?") but it works as a gradual reveal.

The thing that doesn't quite fit together, to me, is the viewpoint/narrator knowing the two casualties' names - presumably transients rather than local homeless? - but himself being a resident there and therefore unlikely to know them.  If he's part of the homeless community or a transient himself, it's unlikely he'd have a dog, I'm thinking.

These logical quibbles aside, I'm wondering if, given Carlos, Paul might be Pablo and yards could be meters.  Or Carlos could be Charlie... as it is, to an Anglo reader, shifting from Carlos to Paul/yards makes it more immediate, as if it was turning from partial to full/thought translation.  Which works rather well, if that's what you intended.

Title:  I see the blue lights as flashers on the railroad police/local police/ambulance, but not until the whole picture comes together at the end.  Could that be tied in somewhere, near "they found?"

What I expected at the end was one of those roadside crosses (for Paul, at least) - the dog marking the spot is an effective turn.

As noted, it's effective, might be made more visual toward the beginning, tied into the title. Quite good, catchy theme.