A Phone Call Poem by Ben Partenay

a moment of silence
the phone rings, you
are answering it
there is never time enough

to say hello, how are
you doing, the family
is alive, as am I, you
are walking out the

backdoor, a screen slams
onto wood, a frame you
were once a part of, where
are the candles lit, who

blew them out, silence
swallows another moment
words are perched on
the dry tongue, sullen

at the culmination.
three years and it’s
the click of the receiver
the connection running

through the wire into
the wall and the heart
is not a something
that loves any longer

operator, how much does
love weigh? a dial-tone?
a scale full of dust
collecting in my chest