Virtual Timing<\/p>\n
Phone has been a silent sentry
\nfor weeks into this pandemic,
\nrobo callers extinct for lack of work.
\nI\u2019m on a Zoom poetry reading,
\nmic on to read my poem at the open,
\nand you guessed it, my phone rings.
\nNot my cell phone at my elbow that
\nI can click off but the house phone,
\ntoo far to reach to press the red
\nshut-up button, and so I read my poem.<\/p>\n
A few days later, the host sends
\na video of the reading; so nice to hear
\nthe features again, phrases I missed,
\nnarratives to relive and savor, and then
\nthere\u2019s the open. Too anxious to wait,
\nI fast forward to me, hear the phone
\nloud as Big Ben at midnight and again
\ncringe at virtual timing.<\/p>\n
What I missed the first time now
\nmakes me chuckle. Several poets
\nget up, checking their phones, sighing
\nbefore returning to their virtual square
\non the screen. I want to shout \u201cIt was me,
\nmy phone rang \u2013 so sorry to interrupt\u201d
\nbut I know it\u2019s too late for that.<\/p>\n
Two days later, I attend another reading,
\nmy time at the open mic, I hold my breath
\nthat the phone will not ring and it doesn\u2019t.
\nInstead, Snickers, our watchdog,
\nstarts a chorus of barking, joined by
\nour other dog, Ruffles, just as I start reading.
\nNo way to shut the door, tell them to shut up,
\nI just read my poem through gritted teeth
\nat the sheer injustice of virtual timing.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m the last reader, we say goodbye, click off
\nquick and clean; dogs still barking an alarm,
\nI race to look out the window and smile
\nto see three baby bunnies running in circles
\nto catch each other, a hopping game of tag,
\nso cute, so small, so clear why the dogs
\nare alerting me.<\/p>\n
When the video arrives in my inbox,
\nI click off without watching it; instead,
\nI sit watching our front lawn for bunnies,
\nthe dogs quiet beside me.<\/p>\n
~ J R Turek
\nJune 27, 2020
\nHour 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Virtual Timing Phone has been a silent sentry for weeks into this pandemic, robo callers extinct for lack of work. I\u2019m on a Zoom poetry reading, mic on to read my poem at the open, and you guessed it, my phone rings. Not my cell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1325,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67231,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67223\/revisions\/67231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}