Best Telephone Poems
In dream lone blackbird sits on telephone line,
pleading, what more do I have to give.
Wing once beat out a metronome in time..
leaving thoughts lost through a sieve.
I swore to rebuild our earthen dam,
and hold the waters at bay.
Your dream found a different plan,
left nothing more to say.
Race, now long finished, deemed total loss..,
left my prideful soul entreating.
Waste heart's song diminished, too high the cost,
ask why the day so fleeting.
Last candle's light gleamed in his glowering gaze,
Write journal'd fate, no answer would he belie,
September's temper teamed in shortened days,
to kiss late remember'd lips good-bye.
Written: October 15, 2023
_______________________________________
Hanging precariously on the landline pole,
The sun's beams dance, yet no heat console.
Akin to power wires in homes spread and sway,
But it seems friendly warmth has gone astray.
Sun rays are vanishing behind the fog cover,
Placing the world through a frost to discover.
Nonetheless, it still clings to the phone cable,
A sign of hope is when light and cheer are stable.
Phone broadband towers above the keen sky.
It manages the call akin to a coordinator of a tie.
Yet it feels empty without the rays of the sun.
A mystery gap, an unviable-to-cram void, began.
Our bones are gently dying as we sit in silence.
Warmth may induce a shift in people's reliance.
But the phone's broadband remains unmoved.
By embracing all our goals, we stay unimproved.
We dearth the sun to engulf us with its coziness.
To devote us comfort, we struggle for prosiness.
But forthwith, we're out in the cold, yearning.
For the radiation from the sun to start burning.
Acoustically, we fix our gaze on the phone wire,
Speculating around when it will uplift us higher.
Will it ever convey to us the warmth we desire?
Or will it ditch us eternally in this icy quagmire?
However, a hyperlink grows inside the wire.
A flickering ember of faith that will not tire.
So there is a secret power within the cord.
A convenient network that hinders the record
Each house, each heart, a node in this scheme,
An array of linkages where comfort can gleam.
And though the sun may not shine with its might,
Each of us is able to produce our proper light.
So let us sit quietly in the cold embrace.
And bear changes at our proper pace.
The phone, a device, or a wire may hang above
Yet it is up to us to descry the embrace of love.
TELEPHONE
I will wait for the phone to ring
Without a dial tone!
Did I not pay my phone bill?
Ring! Ring it's the TELEPHONE.
A very unusual way to leave the world.
Let's all thank,
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL.
For one of the world's best inventions
The most valuable means of communication.
UN-great-full we are,
Abandoning the telephone in every nation
We now consider the cell phone a better creation.
What happens to talk to our friends from home.
Now you are talking while pumping gas at the gas station.
Driving around while talking on the phone.
You don't care about your situation.
Just as long your antenna is not on roaming.
What happen to s.o.s. Communication.
Now we TEX with addiction.
Do not forget about the phoning internet.
Do not forget about the year1876.
SKAT
Last night I dreamed Rhonda and I were so desperate for income that we either started or were hired by a grandma sex hotline.
I don't remember a lot of the dream but I remember taking one call, and I provided a narrative something like, "Well hello Billie! Yes this is your grandma. Have you been being a good boy? Would you like to know what grandma's wearing tonight?"
I woke thinking holy crap where'd that come from. I bet there are lots of grandma fetish dudes out there though, that's probably a good idea for a sexline business. Oh wait, of course it is, there are probably hundreds of them already.
I told Rhonda the dream and she said maybe it could be done without the sex, just a hotline for anyone who misses or wished they had a grandma.
Yeah, someone might like that phone call if it was free, but to pay through the nose by the minute, they gotta have a brain-addling woody.
Winter nights, the darkness comes quick
Key in door, to an empty house
Jacket falls fast right on the floor
I stare at the stand, at the telephone for sure
There she sits, alone, unmoving
No blinking light
No message at all
From a lovers voice or even a call from the mall
The ritual is the same, night after night
I pick up the phone, yes dial tone is there
I check the wires, all attached with great care
Its not broken, same as this morning
I confess, yes I stare at the phone over there
The phone is a functioning, I am assured
I call the weather line, yes a test but I was bored
They tell me is all sunny up over yonder
So no one calls me, of this I must ponder
I confess yes I stare, at the dark phone sitting there
Maybe the answering system parts are malfunctioning
Maybe she really did some exotic oh calling
Oh what I am saying, she’s out to the ball
While I look at telephone, alone in the hall
I confess yes I stare, I stare and stare
So another night, outside shines the bright city lights
I open the door to the darkness in fright
For oh my god, I see a blinking light
My heart beats in excitement, this is surely the night
I stare at a ringing telephone
Oh my what a delight!!!!!!!!
Click
Wrong number
Winter nights, the darkness comes quick
Key in door, to an empty house
Jacket falls fast right on the floor
I stare at the stand, at the telephone for sure
There she sits, alone, unmoving
No blinking light
No message at all
From a lovers voice or even a call from the mall
The ritual is the same, night after night
I pick up the phone, yes dial tone is there
I check the wires, all attached with great care
Its not broken, same as this morning
I confess, yes I stare at the phone over there
The phone is a functioning, I am assured
I call the weather line, yes a test but I was bored
They tell me is all sunny up over yonder
So no one calls me, of this I must ponder
I confess yes I stare, at the dark phone sitting there
Maybe the answering system parts are malfunctioning
Maybe she really did some exotic oh calling
Oh what I am saying, she’s out to the ball
While I look at telephone, alone in the hall
I confess yes I stare, I stare and stare
So another night, outside shines the bright city lights
I open the door to the darkness in fright
For oh my god, I see a blinking light
My heart beats in excitement, this is surely the night
I stare at a ringing telephone
Oh my what a delight!!!!!!!!
Click
Wrong number
Now I am distressed, depressed, redressed
I am at my wits end I must confess
Another evening I sit here alone
Just me and my silent old black phone
I stare a that contraption then the abscess of the night
Like all of the nights in 2014
I will sleep in a bed, with no hug or ice-cream
The pleasures of life, belong not to me
Me and my phone will never be set free
So now it’s New Years Eve, party hat and good cheer
I sit alone with my phone, to ring in the New Year
Oh the irony yes I did see
For the phone is as silent as the heart inside me
I stare at the past; I stare at the wall
Where I contemplate tossing the phone, cord and all
Then it rings, and shocks me out of my trance
2015 has arrived with a telephone call!!!!! so happy I dance!!!!
Cause this time she called, god bless romance
Happy New Year
When I was a child I waited for Your call
How could You do this to me
We stood by the phone but You were busy
How could I have thought You heard
The youngness wasn't enough
You were too disconnected to answer
Unaware we dialed You again and again
The others waited too and starved
I believed in Your love
The Omnipotence fragmented
For you Brother
The signal was one ring and I should ring back
But the Power said disconnected
I tried You again but the voice said no
The number you have reached is not in service
So I checked the number and again it said clear
Those tears turned into a river and we saw You sail by
You were needed at the church and the glory
Two children stayed and together was no matter
Dancing we made new games and prayer
Oh Dio
Am older now and the prayer
My brother is gone cause he took a cab
Their was no fare
He doesn't wait now but I still
I hear him in the night
I see him in strangers and glances
Begging You I wait as before
The toys help with those moments and dialing
Your phone rings off the hook
God help us all
Each day I climb a dozen poles
Or venture into underground holes
To run the lines that carry tones
Of voices into people's phones
Protect me Lord as I climb high
The poles that reach into the sky
And please, Lord, catch me should I fall
But better that not happen at all!
And as I crawl through dark, small spaces
Don't let me get stuck in one of those places!
And Lord, give me a sturdy truck,
And trusty tolls and lots of luck
Because my job isn't glamorous
Or thrilling, hip or amorous
But it can be fun, though kind of scary
Which is why I need you to be wary
And make sure I come home okay
At the end of every day
And as I run each telephone line,
I'll thank you Lord, for making this job mine
Remembering Old-Time Telephone Service
By Elton Camp
Only a few decades ago, the wireless telephones that have become so much a part of our lives were inconceivable and remained so until the advent of Star Trek in the 1960s. Seeing the crew of the Enteprise in easy, constant contact struck a responsive cord in the public mind. Nevertheless, few of us even imagined that similar technology would become readily available to individuals in our lifetimes.
Outside of towns, telephones were not at all common in private homes. When I was a child in the 1940s, not a house in our immediate community had a telephone. We all used the one at the crossroads grocery store. It paid the phone company to run a line only because Gilley’s Store was on the main road between two fair-sized cities. The more scattered rural areas had no phone lines and thus service was unavailable.
In 1951, when I was in the sixth grade, we finally got a telephone. It was on an eight party line with all eight homes receiving the ring whenever any house in the group got a call. The rings were coded: one through four long rings and one through four short rings. All calls “rang in” at every house, even if it was midnight or early morning.
Zero privacy could be expected on calls. Distinct clicks announced pick-ups by multiple eavesdroppers. The practice was called “listening in.” Actually, nobody seemed to particularly mind as long as the listeners refrained from commenting on the conversation.
Many of our neighbors didn’t have a phone at all. They came to ask to use ours. Even worse, their incoming calls sometimes came to us. “Can I speak to Ronald,” the caller asked. Ronald lived three houses away. Yet, we were expected to go get him while the caller waited. By current standards, that sounds like an outrageous imposition, but nobody objected. People were more inclined to help each other in those days.
Older folks tend to long for the “good old days,” but I think few would want to go back to that type of telephone service.
Form:
Light is fading
over the blackened bay
and Judy calls
without anything to say
I hear her voice
talking of prices
while the light fades
even more over the bay
Now bay is dark,
and Judy says goodbye
The telephone sits humbly,
waiting for tomorrow
------------------------------
4/12/2015
Featured poem of the week
commencing 3/19/2017
Moved into my first apartment, I was now standing completely on my own,
Called the telephone company to install my phone so I wouldn’t feel alone.
Felt pretty proud of myself, just didn’t realize how young and foolish I was,
The telephone man hooked up my phone but his good looks gave me pause.
Said he had my number and thought going out with me would be a delight,
With a quick goodbye, he’d call to see if I was free for a drink one night.
We had several dinner dates and I thought that things were going well,
Until I had to call him at work and I realized I was in some kind of hell.
I asked for him by name and another man’s voice came on the phone,
Seems he had lied to me, his actions his colleague did not condone.
Apparently he was married and had children this telephone man,
He used his enterprising dating scheme and I fell for his plan.
Thought we might be developing something special, a close bond,
While all the time I fell for him, I was actually just being conned.
Found out he was working one day on a phone line close to town,
So I drove over and called out his real name, he turned with a frown.
You’re just a liar, a cheat and a dirty rotten scoundrel I shouted out,
My dreams shattered but a little wiser because of this telephone lout.
Written August 11, 2012
For Lisa Cooper ~ Dark Poetess’ contest
“Dirty Deeds”
Number 6 of
THE JENNIFER POEMS
“Be that Miss Jen?” shuddered my voice.
Oh Eros, for three barren year I have waited.
“Alloo,” came from the other end, soft , softer
Pulling my very heart from my enfeebled chest.
That voice, the fuel of my hitherto dying soul;
Voice of Jen.
If by the hand of providence
I was at that moment fossilized,
An eternal smile be on that face registered
So that the world be told I loved her true.
Permit reader to tell thee what so troubled a voiced plodded-
I implore thee listener to hold those hearts like men
For no worse pestilence, no worse dissatisfaction
Had I before felt when that voice quivered in resignation.
“Gerald, no human in this world
Will point to me as a friend-
I have none save fiends and pestilence.
No family at my call.
I have lived in a world of gloom and deceit.
Oh Gerald, if my very pain be understood.
And Jen resolved to exhume for my ears
That self-pity and doom of those gloomier years…
I liked its comforting and quiet
Enclosure from the time and rain
Designed to be impossible to sleep in
(Some vagrant friends reported miseries)
Shutting out the rest of the world
It became a space for answers
A sea-shell or confessional
Calming the small change of your soul
Adored no less by travellers
No doubt for its already ancient
Novelty it would not admit
The weak or infirm to its secrets
And such room inside limited
Admittance or forced proximity
Upon us if we shared a call.
Revered by Mum and Dad as
One familiar part of modern living
To me unvalued then missed
As a lost limb when it was gone.
Note
TO = telephone operator
Self = myself speaking
TO: You have just reached Bedlam Associates Incorporations Ltd.
Our telephone number is 999999ad infinitum but a 9 is enough.
If you want to hear this message in English, please press 1
If you prefer any other language please press 2.
Self: I press 1.
TO: Good job, Sir. I only know English.
Self: (mumbling))
TO: How can I help you Sir?
Self: I have a problem with my Visa credit card.
TO: You have to chose from our menu:
Press 1 if you lost your card.
Press 2 if you have now found your card.
Press 3 if you found a card belonging to some one else.
Press 4 in case you use this card which does not belong to you.
Press 5 for any other question.
Self: I press 5
TO: So what do you want?
Self: I went to a public ATM and inserted my card.
TO: Did you insert it properly? If not press 1. If yes press 2.
Self: (Pressing 2) I’m not a cretin you know.
TO: So what’s the problem, SIR.
Self: I inserted my secret pin number…
TO: Was it the correct pin?
Self: Of course (mumbling). I then saw the amount of money
available to me. So I pressed 500. But I only got 100.
TO: Press 1 if you want a receipt. My records show you pressed
100.
Self: I’m not blind, you know. I pressed 500.
TO: You have only one option. Go to the nearest bank,
Goodbye Sir. Come again soon.
Although this conversation is fictions, it did happen to me. Only the TO was quite nice about it.
When you least expect, your phone will start to ring,
Someone on the other end, just has to do their thing.
“ Madam, I must inform you, your gas will be turned off “,
They don’t give you a chance to sigh or even cough.
It seems when you’re really down, problems just get worst,
Anything that can go wrong, well it’s like we’re bloomin cursed.
The thunder of the phone again, what else could ruin your day,
“ We’ll have to disconnect your phone, if you don’t quickly pay “.
Now, if that isn’t bad enough, the telephone rings again,
The hydro is out to get you and you’re in such awful pain.
You won’t have heat to warm you, you cannot take a bath,
You’ll have to figure what you owe, if you can do the math.
There’s no tone on the telephone, your line is simply dead,
What are you going to do, for you have this horrid dread.
Others can not help you, cause your phone is out of whack,
What can you possibly do, but crawl back in the sack.
Just then the doorbell starts to ring, who in the world can it be,
A man standing at the door, you need help so desperately.
“ I’d like to inform you madam, I have great news for you,
The bank’s issued you a cheque, from someone you once knew”.