Patricia Asuncion’s most recent poem to appear here was “Labor Daze” (September 2019).
On the Other Line
By Patricia Asuncion
I wait for him to come
to the public phone in the hall,
the only government-sanctioned line
to speak with anyone, my someone, in a dementia ward
during the pandemic. I hear
his faint shuffle, his welcomed hello.
In a make-believe land, I bounce topics
like popping bubbles—stories of grandkids,
sick friends, old times, but words are
stones skipping on water’s surface.
Worry gathers my tears for another lost
connection between us when he asks,
Do you wanna go to dinner somewhere tonight?
His one impossible question
restores all the broken lines.
A powerfully beautiful and sad poem…
Beautiful & sad. Thanks for sharing these words. Congrats!
Dear Patricia. Your poem is powerful and heartbreaking.
It made me so sad to recall the world you live in.
Beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
My spirit is with you two. [hugs]