Telephone
--Devin Johnston 

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