TELEPHONE POLES
by Tom Lyford

they’re still here
the telephone poles
those fading icons of
a faded century
that have zigzagged
our rural hilltop horizons
like Stations of the Cross
turning the occasional sunset
into a Calvary tableau

but on the way out
going the way of
the TV antenna

will you miss
those lines strung like
sagging musical staffs with
fat little ‘whole note’ sparrows
scored perhaps as
an arrangement for
‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’
the occasional squirrel
bounding across the top
like the bouncing ball
in a community
sing-along?

the telephone poles are next
already there’s a
wireless phone
holstered
on my belt…
and yours

think about it:
you’re
now
your
own
telephone
pole

08/19/2008