After the cell phone rang
and the poet came down
into the audience and took it
from the hands of its owner
and returned to the stage,
he lifted it to his mouth
and leaned toward the microphone
and spoke into the cell phone
and microphone at the same time
reading his poem that had been interrupted
from beginning to end and, after the applause,
remained silent and held the cell phone
to the microphone and waited, but
there was no further sound from the
cell phone, neither ringing nor speech.
This article appears in July 2014.
