Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The word that rhymes with breath

One of these
Days the phone will ring.
I will pick up and say hello,
but the person on the other end won't.

Everything will go quiet,
and then that person will say my name
and ask if I’m sitting down.
I will impulsively say yes
while still standing,
trying to place the voice
as my feet turn to stone.

And then it will come,
one syllable, in a monotone,
followed by sorry or something,
but of course I wouldn't hear it,
because the word-
that word-
would still be throbbing
in my bones.

Suddenly,
maggots will start to crawl
out of cracks in the walls
and attach themselves
to almost everything I own.

That will be the last thing
I remember seeing.

And then,
after a few minutes
of silence,
there will be a sound
like the fluttering of wings,
and the walls,
the cracks in them,
the maggots from in between them
will all get sucked into the phone.

Half an eternity later, I
too will disappear,
and there will be nothing left
except darkness
and an engaged tone.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What Tone Thomas is engaged ?!?! I thought he was already happily married, Deeyam Mann !!

Maggie said...

And then there is light ...
~ M