Emergency Contact
A poem about the person every form assumes you have.
WHY IS THIS IN THE FILE?
Nobody took responsibility quickly enough.
every form wants
an emergency contact
as if the emergency
will be organized
as if there will be time
to locate the correct person
as if that person
will answer
I write my sister
she lives three states away
and once left her phone
in a refrigerator
for reasons
that remain classified
RELATIONSHIP:
I write
sister
not:
person who knows
why I stopped speaking
to our father
person who can identify
the sound I make
before lying
person who has
a key to my apartment
but not the new one
the form gives me
one line
so I give it
one word
and trust the emergency
to understand
the rest
Pearl Voss
Poet of domestic failures, wrong turns, cheap coffee, and the small humiliations that deserve their own weather system.
STATUS: UNRULY
“Normal” was considered and rejected.
KNOWN ASSOCIATES: readers, loiterers, people who should know better.
PUSH THE WEIRD BUTTON
A clerk has been notified. They are furious.