Telephone

A mockingbird

perched on the hood

of a pay phone

half-buried in a hedge

of wild rose

and heard it ring

The clapper ball

trilled between

brass gongs

for two seconds

then wind

and then again

With head cocked

the bird took note

absorbed the ringing

deep in its throat

and frothed

an ebullient song

The leitmotif

of bright alarm

recurred in a run

from hawk

to meadowlark

from May to early June

The ringing spread

from syrinx to syrinx

from Kiowa

to Comanche to Clark

till someone

finally picked up

and heard a voice

on the other end

say Konza

or Consez or Kansa

which the French trappers

heard as Kaw

which is only the sound

of a word for wind

then only the sound of wind