By: J.K. Durick

On Hold

It’s another world
You dial into
It rings twice and
You’re there
A voice greets you and
Tells you that
Your call is important
To them
And to stay on the line
And
Your call will be answered
In the order it was received
Then the music begins
Elevator music
Without the movement
An elevator would give you
Up or down
No now you are in a limbo
Of sorts
The covers of Barry Manilow
Tunes playing
Between the voice repeating
About the importance
Of your call
An importance you begin
To question a half hour
Deep into this
Other world.

###

Politics

We like to pretend
We didn’t say
What we said
It’s the politics
Of today
Speak before
You think
Then wonder at
The confusion
Followers follow
Opponents oppose
It’s the media
Mediating
Paying too close
Attention
When we say
What we didn’t
Really say.

###

Dividing

We spent a section
of our morning
Discussing the use
of the word “section.”
Began with the grapefruit
Donna was eating –
Ten sections.
Then on from there:
Sections of seats at a game
Sections of classes I taught
Sections of our backyard
That need our attention
A section of the country
A section of our brains
Section of the sky
A section of this
A section of that.
Everything divided by
Sections.
Section/sections became
The common ground for
Everything we thought of
As if short and long division
Came into use
Became the way to look at
Our world
Breaking everything into
Its parts
Smaller bits, smaller bites –
Sections, of course, are
Easier to handle.