Stephen Siperstein

Call from a Wire

You call to me from a wire
through heavy air the sun
hazed by a still white sky
the call is beautiful
a leafy crescendo
and I am startled
suddenly reminded
by your close arrest

of a child hearing broken water,
dolphin breaths, rain drops
on a furrowed roof and
beyond the quilts heavied with sweat
the southwest wind gusts
shuddering glass⎯
you called there too⎯
crept across creaking boards
seeking a face
in all the noise

tangled up by wires.
I am unaccustomed to your madness
and not often moved by song
melodies simple and sweet
arriving unannounced
as if⎯
a preface would make the difference
as if⎯
a prelude to disaster
would cool this sky.