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a journal of literature & art

10-KingmanPS

Kingman

The dust crept in

with the wind

that blew

under the doors

through the peeled caulking

of the window panels

maybe the stack

and settled on

the furniture the countertops

the windowsills and linoleum

the phone calls too

were waiting for me

when I got home

the black phone rang on the empty wall

the wall phone rang and rang and rang

like the dust blew

past my double wide where

no one mopped

no one swept

or answered the rotary phone

while someone else sobbed miles away

till one day

I bought a mop

disconnected the phone

so the sobbing would stop

then gave the mop a whirl

it being more work

and heavier than the dust

and the devious wind

both deceiving me into

thinking that those sobs

came from outside Mojave County    

Paul Smith

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