MIDNIGHT CALL TO A TAXI DISPATCHER


Hi, could you have Carl call his wife
if he has a moment? Yes, I'm sure he's driving

tonight. You know, I'm on the brutal brink of the wineglass
and I just need

to tell him that Jesus Christ himself
couldn't have done

any better really please tell him I love him tell him
the sky is emptying itself like a bladder

the rain you know is ammonia oh and also tell him

the world

is a blunt object doing its violence again

tell him there is something to be said for what cannot be
said

my sweetheart, my rubberneck!

You know the accident was atrocious
but I tell you next day brought a blue filament of sky and

a whiff of the end but there was a moment when there were children

laughing

I swear I heard them laughing
despite the metal twisting itself into a smile

despite the twisting

So, if he has time, could you please have Carl
call me?

Tell him I cannot stop listening for that soft laughter.
Mr. Dispatcher, I
cannot stop listening.



*Published in Words and Images, 2011. Won 2nd place in the Betsy Sholl Award for Poetry.