Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Half Answering The Phones, Then Hanging Up, Or Drifting Away

am I speaking to an empty room
sometimes, I wonder
though the room is full

is this delusion
do I speak to tombs
and the ghosts all out to lunch

or at the crystal punch bowl
drinking transparent raspberry punch
has all etiquette gone

the dodo's way
my conversation lingers in the air
like fine perfume perhaps

the angels wear or all the flowers in Spring;
so have I learned to speak
in a fragmentary way as if in asides

a mongologue from an out of the way stage
or only to God in prayer
oh broken modern circuit of the unbelievably contrary

the inherently rude
what were you given language for
I wonder

in a supercilious age
you deserts out of range;
only to cause more pain.?

mary angela douglas 22 may 2018