Phone Of The Wind

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BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Phone Of The Wind

#1 Post by BobBradshaw » 04 Apr 2022, 00:53

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.

Kenneth2816
Posts: 1619
Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#2 Post by Kenneth2816 » 04 Apr 2022, 06:52

Very powerful.

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Billy
Posts: 1384
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 10:56

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#3 Post by Billy » 04 Apr 2022, 21:12

Good poem. Actually, that doctor was wrong. In hospice we believe hearing is the last sense to go, and the dying respond.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#4 Post by BobBradshaw » 10 Apr 2022, 20:34

Thanks, guys

capricorn
Posts: 382
Joined: 21 Sep 2017, 23:23

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#5 Post by capricorn » 11 Apr 2022, 03:11

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

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#6 Post by BobBradshaw » 12 Apr 2022, 00:35

Thanks, Eira. I have made the change.

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#7 Post by FranktheFrank » 12 Apr 2022, 13:16

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.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#8 Post by BobBradshaw » 13 Apr 2022, 21:12

Thank you, Ieuan

Michael (MV)
Posts: 2154
Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#9 Post by Michael (MV) » 01 May 2022, 20:28

"Wind Phone" as title comes to mind

Bob, just a workshop-share for your consideration

MV

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Phone Of The Wind

#10 Post by BobBradshaw » 02 May 2022, 19:54

Thx for the suggestion, Michael.

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