Hearing

We tell her she’s holding
the handset upside-down

She rotates it 180º, then
another 180, wires tangled

still trying to speak through
the ear-piece while we

slap our foreheads, helpless
beyond words, struggling

all our lives to convince her
she’s not being heard

that she won’t be heard
I should have known it was

too late but she’d tell me
not to worry, someday

I’d hear her loud and clear
from the grave