Voices is intended to be a collection of poems written and illustrated
by Mike Burr .
phone
the phone is silent .. has been silent
i am waiting for your call
your voice is ringing
its bells a fusillade to joy and anguish
canon from cerebrum to inner ear and back
your voice is here inside me
but not inside the silent phone
whose silence brings its tension to this expectant room
whose silence brings its ache
bracken green and tightly curled
as i am in that inner womb of self
this waiting room whose silence
rends my inner structure
its shredded core an emblem of its pain
its flag hanging, floating
drifting listless inside my hapless void
it so needs that breath of life
that lifts the bells that make
the joy that bring the comfort to that outer ear
that engender such cerebral pleasure
this being needs your joy
the phones sharp cusp of sound
in bursts resound about the clutter of the room
its rattled excitement laughing like sunshine
from behind fleet and intermittent cloud
its rays delight upon the landscape of this expectation
and i lift the white receiver .. there you are
the phone is sad
it hears you weeping
it only hears your frail sobs
and then its censorious click
and dull drone
the phone is not silent
it hums its disapproving tone
your voice no longer rings its happy peal
and with that last thunderous click
the room returns to haunt the silent sunlight
with its dark litter
scattered on the floor
the sound of history