Phone Of The Wind
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- Posts: 2692
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Phone Of The Wind
Phone Of The Wind
The “phone of the wind”,
as the Otsuchi phone booth is called,
is a leftover relic of the 1960s,
a white phone booth
with its rotary phone.
Sometimes lines of the grieving,
hearts wrecked, queue up to use it.
Where else can you call
a dead loved one?
There’s something acceptable
in Japan about reaching out
to one’s past—parents, child,
a former lover, your voice trembling
over an unconnected line.
“Mom, is that you?”
When Dad lay dying,
unresponsive, his doctors insisted
he didn’t know we were there.
Once he gripped my finger
when I asked Can you hear me?
“A muscular reaction. That’s all.”
a physician assured me.
To her my father would always
remain a missed call.
Sometimes in my hotel room
late at night I wake up
to Otsuchi’s phone, ringing.
I gaze through my bedroom window
half expecting to see
a white shadow on the lawn.
Here in Japan I don’t hesitate
to reach out, to call. “Yes, yes
I miss you, Dad…”
I missed an opportunity
when he lay dying in a sterile room.
I’ll be damned if I’ll miss a chance
to connect with him again.
The “phone of the wind”,
as the Otsuchi phone booth is called,
is a leftover relic of the 1960s,
a white phone booth
with its rotary phone.
Sometimes lines of the grieving,
hearts wrecked, queue up to use it.
Where else can you call
a dead loved one?
There’s something acceptable
in Japan about reaching out
to one’s past—parents, child,
a former lover, your voice trembling
over an unconnected line.
“Mom, is that you?”
When Dad lay dying,
unresponsive, his doctors insisted
he didn’t know we were there.
Once he gripped my finger
when I asked Can you hear me?
“A muscular reaction. That’s all.”
a physician assured me.
To her my father would always
remain a missed call.
Sometimes in my hotel room
late at night I wake up
to Otsuchi’s phone, ringing.
I gaze through my bedroom window
half expecting to see
a white shadow on the lawn.
Here in Japan I don’t hesitate
to reach out, to call. “Yes, yes
I miss you, Dad…”
I missed an opportunity
when he lay dying in a sterile room.
I’ll be damned if I’ll miss a chance
to connect with him again.
Re: Phone Of The Wind
Good poem. Actually, that doctor was wrong. In hospice we believe hearing is the last sense to go, and the dying respond.
Re: Phone Of The Wind
Interesting poem - very powerful. Billy's comment 'hearing is the last sense to go' got me thinking.
It's probably me, Bob, but I keep reading the last line of this stanza the other way round
I gaze through my bedroom window
half expecting to see
on the lawn a white shadow.
'a white shadow on the lawn'
Great read
Eira
It's probably me, Bob, but I keep reading the last line of this stanza the other way round
I gaze through my bedroom window
half expecting to see
on the lawn a white shadow.
'a white shadow on the lawn'
Great read
Eira
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- Posts: 2692
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Phone Of The Wind
Thanks, Eira. I have made the change.
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- Posts: 1988
- Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
- Location: Between the mountains and the sea
Re: Phone Of The Wind
Phone on The Wind
at Ōtsuchi, a white telephone booth
at Northern Japan complete
with its round dialling device,
a relic of the 1960s,
Some days, lines of families queue
to call passed-on loved ones. An impossible
but necessary exercise of grief.
Bob please forgive me, but I found it irresistible
to tinker with the starting stanzas after reading
this unique poem.
Just a few line for you to mull over and refine
in your own inimitable style.
I nominate for the coming end of month IBPC.
at Ōtsuchi, a white telephone booth
at Northern Japan complete
with its round dialling device,
a relic of the 1960s,
Some days, lines of families queue
to call passed-on loved ones. An impossible
but necessary exercise of grief.
Bob please forgive me, but I found it irresistible
to tinker with the starting stanzas after reading
this unique poem.
Just a few line for you to mull over and refine
in your own inimitable style.
I nominate for the coming end of month IBPC.
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- Posts: 2154
- Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57
Re: Phone Of The Wind
"Wind Phone" as title comes to mind
Bob, just a workshop-share for your consideration
MV
Bob, just a workshop-share for your consideration
MV
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- Posts: 2692
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Phone Of The Wind
Thx for the suggestion, Michael.