constructing poetry

telemarketers

it never fails—
there I am, typing away
my head stuck within
a fictional mind,
my dragon soaring so fast
and high that I’m not sure
I can sustain the pace,
and it’s smooth.
the sounds of the house
are hidden behind
earplugs that pour
a classical soundtrack
on a loop—Vivaldi to
Wagner, Saint Saens to Ravel—
wordless thunder crashes
and eldritch screams
and discordances that make
my pulse sing and my
thoughts race into story.
I haven’t eaten in hours,
but I don’t feel the lack
because the flow is magic . . .

and then, the phone rings.
I barely hear it—I try to ignore it—
but it could be family
so I strip away
the headphones and untangle
my laptop from my arm, and stand,
heading to answer—
only to hear a recorded voice
pretending to be a human
ask me if I needed a wireless
security system—
which we don’t.
we have one already,
and I hang up without thanking
or saying goodbye,
but when I flop back down
on the couch
and pull my laptop back,
my dragon has gone
and I’m left in the middle
of a song, in the middle
of the story, lost.

Prompt for: May 3, 2016 ▼

Subject or Theme: Annoyances
Word(s) to Include: flop, sustain (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): traffic, pet peeves, annoyance, computer, break/broke, chocolate, food (or any derivatives, compound or hyphenations of these words)
Additional Parameters: Minimum 28 lines, Title of poem should be what your annoyance is.
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.