The Call

A curly corded telephone rings in a distant room,
its black Bakelite bulk vibrates behind closed eyes.
An old-time fire-engine parks its flame and brass chassis
inside a cavernous skull, though no conflagration
sets the dark alight.

It is that shallow pit of night when faceless clocks
expose themselves to be landmines.

A far past is calling; disembodied tongues drum loud
above the rattle of a tin ear.
A cumbersome receiver tumbles off its cradle
an accumulated dust of misappropriated yesterday’s
softens its fall.
Nothing has grasped at nothing.

A line is dead and buried; there's no resurrection,
the call however lingers, as a voice dissolve's
deep within the combustible light
of another day.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2024

Poem

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Rodrigues Avatar
October 18, 2024 at 1:10 PM
Great imagery!
Ashford Avatar
October 19, 2024 at 12:05 PM
Thank you, Kim, I am 75 so really not that old to recall those older black Bakelite phones but it seems that I do. Maye it's a false memory! Best E
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