Sherman Alexie
Requiem for a Pay Phone
a Fibonacci sequence poemAll
That
Autumn,
I walked from
The apartment (shared
With my sisters) to that pay phone
On Third Avenue, next to a sleazy gas station
And down the block from the International House of Pancakes. I was working the night
Shift at a pizza joint and you were away at college. You dated a series of inconsequential
boys. Well, each boy meant little on hisOwn, but their cumulative effect devastated my brain and balls. I wanted you to stop
kissing relative strangers, so I called at midnight as often as I could afford to. If I talked
to you that late, I knew(Or hoped) you couldn’t rush into anybody’s bed. But, damn, I still recall the misery of
hearing the ring, ring, ring, ringOf your unanswered phone. These days, I’d text you to find you, but where’s the
delicious painIn that? God, I miss standing in the mosquito dark
At this or that pay phone. I wish
That I could find one
And call back
All that
I
Loved.