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CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE (caller): Not a creature was stirring
ROSIE (counselor): You let your pets cook?
MOORE: Not even a mouse.
ROSIE: That’s good. They can be disease vectors. Worse, they could fall in.
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CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE (caller): Not a creature was stirring
ROSIE (counselor): You let your pets cook?
MOORE: Not even a mouse.
ROSIE: That’s good. They can be disease vectors. Worse, they could fall in.
In memoriam of Stephen Sondheim. May his memory be a blessing.
GENE (counselor): Musical Theater Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
STEPHEN SONDHEIM (caller): when you’re a Jet, you’re a jet all the way
GENE: Well, they won’t let you off mid-flight.
SONDHEIM: From your first cigarette
GENE: They won’t let you smoke on board, either.
SONDHEIM: To your last dying day.
GENE: It’s just a fine. They’re not going to throw you off.
PATIENCE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
W.S. MERWIN (caller): Listen,
PATIENCE: That’s what I’m here for.
MERWIN: With the night falling we are saying thank you.
PATIENCE: You’re welcome. Uh…for what?
MERWIN: We are stopping on the bridges
PATIENCE: Is there traffic behind you?
MERWIN: To bow from the railings.
PATIENCE: Just don’t lean over too far, OK?
MERWIN: We are running
PATIENCE: On the railings?
MERWIN: Out of the glass rooms
PATIENCE: Please tell me you’re not throwing stones.
MERWIN: With our mouths full of food.
PATIENCE: Are you trying to make me worry?
MERWIN: To look at the sky
PATIENCE: Why? What’s happening?
MERWIN: And
PATIENCE: Please don’t tell me they’re bombing the parking lot with turkeys?
PATIENCE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
W.S. MERWIN (caller): Listen,
PATIENCE: That’s what I’m here for.
MERWIN: With the night falling we are saying thank you.
PATIENCE: You’re welcome. Uh…for what?
MERWIN: We are stopping on the bridges
PATIENCE: Is there traffic behind you?
MERWIN: To bow from the railings.
PATIENCE: Just don’t lean over too far, OK?
MERWIN: We are running
PATIENCE: On the railings?
MERWIN: Out of the glass rooms
PATIENCE: Please tell me you’re not throwing stones.
MERWIN: With our mouths full of food.
PATIENCE: Are you trying to make me worry?
JOHN MCCRAE (caller): …that mark our place.
NED (counselor): Do you mean like a bookmark? Or our place on earth?
MCCRAE: And in the sky
NED: Glad to know you’re thinking about your place in Heaven, callerino.
MCCRAE: The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
NED: Those are brave birds, if the boy next door is out there with his slingshot.
KIM (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
MAHOGANY L. BROWNE (caller): I always took it for granted
KIM: What?
BROWNE: The right to vote.
KIM: I did too until recently. Use it well.
Excerpted from “The 19th Amendment & My Mama” by Mahogany L. Browne
MOE (counselor): Rock & Roll Crisis Line, what is your Emergency?
CEELO GREEN (GNARLS BARKLEY vocalist [caller]): I remember when I remember when I lost my mind.
MOE: Knowing when is a start. Do you recall where you put it?
ROSIE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
W.S. Merwin (caller): I have been watching crows and now it is dark.
ROSIE: That would make it hard to see them.
Originally published in Stone Telling
Although I’m not particularly vain,
I’m sure you’d like to know how you will die,
so, first, before I kill you, I’ll explain
my brilliant plan. Don’t bother to complain;
you won’t escape, no matter how you try.
It’s not that I’m particularly vain,
it’s just that after taking all these pains
I would like you to look me in the eye
before I kill you, so I can explain:
a cistern in the mountain gathers rain
through ducts in my enormous statue’s eye
(not that I am particularly vain).
It enters a robotic water main,
which, on command, can self-electrify.
Before I kill you, now, I will explain:
I’ve added some enhancements to my brain—
you’ll nev— What’s that? You’re out? Good grief! Good bye;
good riddance. It’s a good thing I’m not vain;
next time, before I kill you, I’ll explain.
Before I Kill You
(an arch-villainelle)
[originally published in Stone Telling]
(parts 1-5 of 6)
Although I’m not particularly vain,
I’m sure you’d like to know how you will die,
so, first, before I kill you, I’ll explain
my brilliant plan. Don’t bother to complain;
you won’t escape, no matter how you try.
It’s not that I’m particularly vain,
it’s just that after taking all these pains
I would like you to look me in the eye
before I kill you, so I can explain:
a cistern in the mountain gathers rain
through ducts in my enormous statue’s eye
(not that I am particularly vain).
It enters a robotic water main,
which, on command, can self-electrify.
Before I kill you, now, I will explain:
I’ve added some enhancements to my brain—
you’ll nev— What’s that? You’re out? Good grief! Good bye;