THE PAY PHONE

Demeanors prove I wasn’t wrong
When I installed a new pay phone
People complained quite a bit
For I get commissions on everyone

They learn to dial and to speak
But mainly to pay their turns
Lining up all around the block
One by one, they pay the phone

This neighborhood is old and poor
No one cares about it anymore
Those who did died or went away
‘Cause someone else made them go

But they love something new
Like the time when light arrived
And the first radio was turned on
What to say about my latest phone?

Being the only one for many miles
They were all scared of it at first
But now they use it with an iron wit
They just can’t imagine life without it

..

One day the phone company knocks on me
Wonders why there are so many calls here
I say "I don’t know" and "I don’t care"
And they knock me harder, on the head

"We don’t believe you! Pay us!"
"Hell with you!" took all my teeth
And a nut, from some cheap hits
But I guess I’ll manage for now

They threatened to take the phone away
So I threatened to tell the people
They couldn't care: "We’ll take it with us!"
So I went quickly for everyone

Soon there were sticks and stones
Shining knives and shiny guns
The people gone mad, I thought
When they assassinated the phone company

The phone held, sustaining happiness
Doctors and cops questioned about
Yet no one'd give a rat's ass
Much too busy paying the phone

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