The voice on the phone
was friendly, professional,
and recorded.
Your call is important to us:
we are presently experiencing
a higher than normal call volume;
please stay on the line and your call
will be answered in sequence.
Outside my window
sun inundates autumn leaves;
the cat on the windowsill
wants to talk to a squirrel
storing nuts for the winter.
For service in English press one;
for service in French press two;
for service in Mandarin press three;
for service in Spanish press four;
for all other languages press five.
The bandage on my finger
is starting to saturate
and will soon drip red
on the ochre kitchen floor.
My pulse is becoming insistent.
Welcome to customer service.
Your call is important to us:
we are presently experiencing
a higher than normal call volume;
please stay on the line and your call
will be answered in sequence.
There is music playing upstairs;
perhaps that soothing essence
will filter through the floor
and the bandage, into my finger.
Perhaps if I breathe slowly,
into me.
Your call is important to us:
we are presently experiencing
a higher than normal—
Wow…it is a perfect sarcasm! That has many times happened with me, but if it happens in such a crucial situation, the service becomes fully useless and in fact dangerous too! Reading your poems, I sometimes feel that you are a bit angry on people or the processes! Just was eager to know!
Tejaswini, there are many situations in which bureaucracy or software become a barrier to action. In these cases, we become Hamlet, frustrated by the situation in which we initially find ourselves, trapped by the automaton of bureautechnocracy. Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” is one chilling example of the insanity of it all.