it was a phone call I didn't want
it was a phone call I didn't expect
it was news I didn't want to hear
it was news I didn't see coming
all I could think was why?
the cliche "why do bad things happen to good people?"
couldn't be more true.

New technology
          Evolving circuitry
                       Shiny quality tactile
                                                  Need it
                                              Want it
                                          Got it
                   New technology
   Swipe swipe gleaming
          Add the apps for gaming
                                              Have it
                                                Played it
                                        Dropped it!
                             Cracked screen
    That's what happened to my
            new technology.

everyone on phones
it really does make me cringe
but I do it too

I will call you
And tell you
I love you
Not after when the train comes
Or after when the streets lights turn red
But after I’m done
Finding pennies in
Precarious places
I will call you
With my lips chipping
Like sugar on a glazed donut
My forehead a red neon sign
Flashing Day Dreams

I will call you
When the earth binges on ice cream
She’s trying to form new oceans again,
Trying to get back what the sun took
From her
I will come, harnessing the speed of light
With sun rays for arms;
Lightning in my heart
And oak trees sprouting from my head
And you’ll know
That I was trying my best to find
You in places that existed
When we were younger but no longer
Now that we aren’t

I will hand you all the pennies
I find and though there’s not many,
There’s enough
Because theses—
Are for the wishers
The people who stare at the distant suns
And get nothing back but a wink
For the pessimists who keep trying
To see the glass sideways
And for the earth that keeps fighting
For the right days
Give them two
And tell them all to wait for me
By the nearest pay phone—

We talked on the phone because she hated to text
Giving me a hint of what comes next
My heart used to be empty and as hard and black as coal
but she set it on fire and now it feels full
Your heart is broken while mine is whole
So let's put them together and only be half broken
So we can be the same heart but in different skin
You make my weeks eventful
Instead of my days of seven dull
We compliment each other, I push you pull
I compliment you to bring joy
You'd compliment me but you're too coy
I run for our future while you run from your past
Good thing we're fast
And not to put you on blast,
but,
let's end get out of this rut
it's monotonous
so let's make this concept official, us

Late night calls either make you or break you
There are the ones that are so sweet, so intimate that you never want them to end and they leave you dizzy on happiness and contentment
The others break your heart, tear you to pieces, and leave you needing comfort, reconciliation, and a reason for hope
You never know which one you're going to get when you pick up that phone
Sometimes you may know and you're totally wrong
Sometimes you may know and you're  totally right

picking up the phone and dialing your number from memory
tapping on the beaming LED screen in my blackened and frigid room
it sends me into a lycanthropic frenzy
I shed the skin of a plagued, maddened hermit and
mutate into a gregarious, fluttery seraphim
when your “hello” melts through the receiver to greet me
it makes Annie Clark sound like a rattled wasp nest
when I pace around my room, telling you about my day
I feel like I’m weaving adventures together just to feel your warmth
through the phone pressed against my oily cheek
the clock whirlpools helplessly trying to figure out the time
as if it had got caught up in our banter and forgot about its job
but even if the clock can’t set the time straight, the sun does
when it creeps its ugly head above the horizon, I hear a mumble
then a quiet “go to bed” and a “goodnight”
and I shrivel back into the saddened lunatic I once was