Tuesday Evening Breakdown

When the phone rang I said, “Hello,”
and right away I heard three beeps.
Then a robotic voice said, “Now,”
and it gave me a case of creeps.

Another Tuesday evening breakdown
thanks to an eerie telephone.
A mechanical voice on the line;
how I wish I weren’t alone.

I thought perhaps it was my friend
and I looked forward to a chat.
But now that, Now, of tin-like tongue
has freaked me out right where I’m at.

Another Tuesday evening breakdown;
was it assertion or a threat?
I am not sure how to take that Now,
so I bite my nails and fret.

  (I pace, so woe is me,
    a null identity,
    I am on the Do Not Call List.
    And yet the call still came,
    I have no one to blame--
    Can I retain my sanity?)

I’ve locked my doors and wedged a chair
between the doorknob and the floor.
If Now comes by to mess with me,
I’ll give him then, and then what for.

Another Tuesday evening breakdown;
it seems to find me out somehow.
Here I go with nerves like Shredded Wheat,
all because of a cold Now.


30 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
January 8, 2014