Eric Paul Shaffer

TELEPHONE LINES

When the telephone first came to our upcountry farm in Kula,
there was only one wire. The numbers were a digit different,

but it was the same line. When anybody’s rang, ours rang
in the kitchen, and so rang the receivers in every other house.
No matter what somebody said, anybody could be listening,

and everybody knew it, so nobody ever said anything important
or personal on the phone. Phones were public, like a restroom

or a library is public. If the words were private, they were taken
outside or penned. Nobody ever called anybody for no reason,

and conversations were short. Before the telephone, we lived
alone where we couldn’t even see the neighbors’ lights at night,
but the wires shrunk the world. No longer was there anywhere

you knew anybody you couldn’t call anymore. So we called.
Whenever we picked up the phone, there were voices in the line.

–from Rattle #30, Winter 2008

§ One Response to “Telephone Lines” by Eric Paul Shaffer

• SIP Trunking & Business Phone Systems | Intro to SIP says:

  August 24, 2009 at 1:44 am

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