15.
i answered my phone
i was walking through
an urban park, a field of snow
surrounded by hoar-frosted trees
the phone vibrated in my pocket
the music stopped
the music didn’t start again for months
i didn’t see the oncoming shock wave
through the slowness of the falling snow
i moved the slider and heard
the foreign voice of a friend
whose name i didn’t remember
who said i have unfortunate news
to tell….
all i heard was pressure
pushing through my eardrums
whatever happened after
didn’t include me
then i was told:
winter was gone
spring was gone
i was surrounded by nurses and doctors
hospital beds and the straps;
that held me down,
so i wouldn’t break my own bones
months went past
that phone call never ended
it severed my sense of time and place:
already fragile,
i can’t remember what the bad news was tho…