Death says to me: soon enough, he will call collect. (Only pay phones in hell.) (No burners?) But the phone companies killed all that years ago – "Operator? Operator?" A bot buzzes in the receiver like a dying fly. My cell phone screen is cracked with jokes and I don't recognize this grim reaper's smile staring back at me from the lock widget – gives new meaning to saving face. Saved by the bell, or ringtone. Sitting out on the deck – listening to woodpeckers' hard words with bark beetles. "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in." I skipped Morse code in Boy Scouts along with Lifesaving and Bugling Which means I can't play taps for you, my friend – only these fingerprints on Gorilla glass, tracks in the sand draining down the silicon hourglass. If survival is eulogy enough, we are still here.
*”Death Calling Collect” – Don Tracy, 1976 (among other versions/sources)
qbit 
This out me in mind of Vanessa Mae’s version of “the Devil’s Trill”, which, is you listen hard, has a disconnected phone line at the beginning and end. This link has it at the beginning, but I don’t hear it at the end. On my cd the song ends with a horribly lonesome busy signal that sounds like it’s in outer space. The Devil’s Trill, if you don’t know, was from a dream a composer had–Giuseppe somebody–who dreamed that the devil came to him and played it, He woke up and tried to write down all he could remember. Crazy stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, wow, that was terrific. Thank you! Yeah, I didn’t want to close as dark as I started. There is still some residual optimism in me, LOL! Thought you might like the bugle line.
LikeLike
No burners, a cell phone screen cracked with jokes, and saved by the bell..some great word play in this Qbit! Dark but clever and still made me smile within the lines. So glad you joined in this week!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. Not Bev’s style, but wanted to remember her, and that I was thinking of her.
LikeLike
You have achieved excellence, qbit. I love this line in particular:
Amazing. I can’t pick a favorite line – I’d have to quote the whole thing
LikeLiked by 1 person
My cell phone screen is cracked with jokes
Love this line qbit! It is classic!
Hank
LikeLiked by 1 person
a deeper, darker one from you full of references and tangential thoughts, well-woven together with the usual offerings of delicious lines
“Sitting out on the deck –
listening to woodpeckers’ hard words with bark beetles.”
LikeLike
Confess to pinching myself at poem’s end .. to confirm my breathing. This is an epic write … my screensaver has taken on new meaning, lute and bugle await.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. Lute and bugle duets. I have to give that some thought…
LikeLike
Don’t fret it was meant to be ‘flute’ which I am certain you could have managed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahahaha!
LikeLike
There are so many fantastic lines here- I can’t pick just one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You had fun with this but it is seriously good. Favorite line:
“woodpeckers’ hard words with bark beetles.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The images here are all of a disconnection that anticipates isolation–and of course, death is the ultimate and final isolation. Too many good lines to quote, but I liked the way you flipped the feels around, from death on the line to “..My cell phone screen is cracked with jokes..” to “..woodpeckers’ hard words with bark beetles..” to paint this post-modern epitaph.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Death calls for Po-Mo”
LikeLike
“My cell phone screen is cracked with jokes
and I don’t recognize this grim reaper’s smile
staring back at me from the lock widget –
gives new meaning
to saving face.” Love this! I need so humor in this dark grief I’m living.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad.
LikeLike
The images in this are incredible in their cleverness and wit.
LikeLiked by 1 person