January 16, 2023

PHONE CALLS

 

It seems to me that every time

I begin to speak to you, you reach

for your cell phone. That usually

stops me from talking to you –

not with a cell phone – but with just

my slightly tightening teeth here in this room.

To be honest – I’ve never called you

and said, “When you do this, it makes

me ask myself, ‘Am I that boring?’"

Now of course I’ve thought about this a bit.

Then I’ve noticed, I do the same thing to you

and others when I’m hearing the same stories

I’ve heard you tell a hundred times.

I guess I figure my stories are better.

So I'm now asking, "Long before cell phones,

did cave men and women –

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle –

Dante, Beatrice, Joan of  Arc -

everyone – that thinks the other

is not listening to them think this

same thing I’m thinking right now?"

© Reflections, Andy Costello