✨ The Wind Phone

in the wrecked landscape...

The Wind Phone

In the wrecked landscape
of Fukushima

a white telephone booth
shines

with many panes of glass
in the hinged door

and a man steps in
dials the cell number

of his wife’s phone,
of course unanswering—

she was swept away
in the tsunami,

a photo in the paper
shows her sitting outside

on a blanket, knees
up, rocking back in laughter.

I pick up the black
receiver, still warm

from his hand, dialing
my sister’s number I used

to know by heart.
No answer from the sea

or her, just the whirling sound
of blood pounding in my ear.

—Patricia Clark

From O Lucky Day: Poems, Madville Publishing, Copyright © 2025. Used by permission of the poet. Photo by Getty Images, Unsplash license.