Blanky
I
watched a girl-woman walk across campus
holding
a cell phone tightly to her face—
but
she didn’t seem to actually be talking to anyone—
it
was more like she was sucking her thumb.
When
I was little (like three or four)
I
used to have a blanky
that
I would hold in my hand
when
I sucked my thumb—
I
called it my babby.
But
after a while
my
mother took it away
and
cut it into little pieces—
because,
she said,
it
would give me buck teeth
if
I didn’t stop.
So
later, when I was a teenager,
I
tried smoking cigarettes,
because
I figured it was the next best thing—
but
that didn’t work
because
cigarettes made my throat feel like crap.
So
now I’m thinking about getting a cell phone—
Because
it seems like pretty much the same thing.
Paul Rogalus
