The carriage phone tumbles,
lost somewhere beneath our feet,
this cordless contraption
so far ahead of it's time, is keeping us together.

The morning dial in
preceeds my morning walk
to fetch water from town,
along with my daily visit to the butcher.

The ringer blasts our eardrums
late into the night
in this cramped five points building
with no indoor plumbing.

The phone makes up our minds,
it handles the thinking portion of life
in this age of gaslight
and brewery built upon brothel.

When asked how the phone worked,
we weren't sure how to respond,
we'd never been asked such a question,
as our education is severly limited.

The phone keeps us indoors, sans my walk,
and Mary(my bride) keeps her head down
waiting for the ringing to begin again,
waiting for nothing.

The phone causes weight gain,
the distance from ear to ear has increased
and my trousers are not fitting as they once did.
Mary could use some excersise herself.

The phone blows out our candles
when I'm writing late into the night,
my topic is always the rings,
the vibrations in the floorboards that trample our brains.

I dismantled the phone last night,
please don't alert the man.
I can fit in my trousers again,
and Mary doesn't look a day over 29.

Mary left along with the phone,
early this morning.
Saddened for hours, I suddenly had a thought.
"What do I want out of life?"

Slowly pondering the words

Slowly biting my fingernails to skin

The answer followed my final exhale

"I want another phone."

11/01/2013