Telephone Joe

Telephone Joe

Joe worked in

the tall wind

A professional

telephone line

repairman

his only problems

came when he returned

to the Earth.

Gravity wanted

to pull him

back down to

where he

could be

chased by dogs

run over

by cars

rattled by love,

mortgage payments,

all the earthly

delights of America

falling in

the late

20^th century.

But when he was

up on a pole,

tying up the wires

that ran

the humming

electricity

across

the country,

Joe was far

away with

the clouds.


Annotated Telephone Joe:
Another poem from 'Bowl
of Water.' I drew that truck
parked outside my window
in Seattle a long time ago.