Notes About The Poem

blogging

I wouldn’t call what we do ‘blogging,’ would you?
I’m somewhat conversant with blogging and it would be like:
‘December 14th, I realized I was out of dental floss, so I called 112 (France’s 911) and they yelled at me.”

A poet might say:

The morning was pale and judgmental, the light didn’t illuminate, as much as accuse me of oversleeping. I’d just spit-out the last of my bubblegum toothpaste, when I tugged the dental floss only to be rewarded with a two-inch fragment.

The sink gurgled like a drowning swimmer as I rummaged through the medicine cabinet and then the linen closet - where we store spare soaps, shampoos, mouthwashes and the other detritus of modern hygiene -
but no floss.

I’d started the shower minutes ago, expecting a quick entry and now the bathroom had become sauna-like. French bathrooms have these box-like, ‘on demand’ water heaters, like 2 gallon coffee percolators, that dispense hot-as--holy-hell water, the mist of which, falling on the chilled, white, underfoot tiles, created a ceramic slippery-slide. I even searched Peter and my travel toiletry bags! Alas and again, no floss.

The ticking clock, that merciless, bureaucratic tool, mocked the undoing of my morning schedule.

In a moment of clarity, born of despair, I picked up my iPhone and demanded “Siri, call One-one-two!”
The French telephone system returns a higher-pitched, single-tone ring with longer pauses in between.
Three rings later I got an answer, “This is an emergency.” I announced (‘C'est une urgence’).
“What is the nature of your emergency,” a calm, dispassionate A.I.-voice asked.
“I’ve run out of floss.” I blurted.
There was a long pause where I could almost hear the A.I. dispatcher glitching.
“Mademoiselle,” it finally said, “calling 112 is not a joke.”
“Neither is plaque!” I replied - thinking of how proud my dental hygienist would be of me.
“Yet here we are,” I added, before the line went dead.
.
.
A song for this:
daweb.us/xmas/Christmas_21.mp3
Copyright © | Year Posted 2025

Poem

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Fallica Avatar
December 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Not counting the 'Intro', you've got 272 words (!) about running out of floss. I trust your TAs are suitably impressed with your ability.
Vionet Avatar
December 18, 2025 at 8:13 PM
That's nothing - I kissed the blarney stone once - which isn't easy, you have to lay on your back and lean upside down over a hundred foot fall to do it. =]
Fallica Avatar
December 18, 2025 at 8:47 AM
My face yearns again for the minutes long smile this piece generated. It does smile anew, but alas, it’s more a reminiscence or memoir of my first time reading this from just moments ago. Were that my other first times generated as much enjoyment. :-) (Gonna go check my floss supply right now.) <3
Vionet Avatar
December 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Read it twice! I'm delighted (of course)!
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