poem of the day 06.02.09

call someone

it was always my mother
who wanted me to call someone

“give jason a call,” she’d offer,
seeing me wander around the house
on a sunny summer day, while other kids were outside
“or call marc.”

and having nothing better to do, i would.
i’d get on the phone and wait
until jason or marc got on the line
and i’d ask them what they were doing
and we’d go back and forth over that for a while
and i’d sit there on the phone
wishing i’d just stayed in my room laying on my bed
or that i didn’t have a bored look
on my face all of the time
and my mother would stand there
and she’d watch me on the phone
probably thinking about
how much fun i’d be having with friends
that i actually had friends
and feeling bad for her
i’d eventually ask jason or marc

“so, do you want to hang out?”

even though i didn’t want to
and had they wanted me around they would’ve called
in the first place
and either jason or marc would say
“yes” or “no,” depending on their day
but either way i would be relieved
no matter what they said
because i knew when i got off the phone
nothing else would be expected of me
and my mother would think i was
being a normal, healthy american child
and our little world could keep on spinning
on the same axis as everyone else’s
all those good people
trying to get through another summer
in the bland suburbs of pittsburgh, pennsylvania.