John Harms
ENG 294
Fall 1998

Hope for Communication and the Required Instrument of Evil

I dialed your number today
with hopes to talk with you.
Your line is busy
My hope takes a fall
<UGH>

I wait a few minutes,
almost an eternity.
I dial your number again.
Still busy.
The tone I get sounds like the phone is laughing at me,
for trying so hard.
Just to talk with you.

I wait longer
I add what seems like days to my life.
One more time,
what the heck.
Give it another chance to laugh at me.

I dial again.
a silent pause is heard
I think – what's wrong?!? what is happening?!?
IT RINGS!
HA!
SUCCESS FOR ME!
wait – it rings again . . .
and again, and again.

It must have rang five or six times now,
I've lost track.
Nobody answers, nobody is there.
I hang up
feeling empty
all because of this damned instrument of evil,
needed only for today's convenience.