Pick up, I said, and talk to me, you said, come
home and talk to me, I said, not until we can talk, you said,
what, I said, like fucking human beings, you said, I won't talk
to you, I said, until you come home, you said, I won't call back,
I said, then don't, you said, I can't come home until
we talk, you said, who does this, I said, talk to me, I
said, no one does this, you said, someone is doing it, you said,
right now, you said, people don't, you said, act like this, I said, I'm
trying to talk to you, I said, just come home, I
said, can't we talk, you said, come home
first, I said, I left home, you said, so we can talk,
you said, no one talks, you said, not like this, I said, just
talk to me, I said, I am, I said, talking to you, you
said, what did I just say, I said, it matters how you say it,
you said, this is how I said it, I said, pick up, you said, come home.
Fight by John W. Evans | Sandalwood & Vanilla Poetry Reed Diffuser
John W. Evans is the author of four books that have won several prizes, including the Rattle Chapbook Prize and the River Teeth Book Prize. His work appears in publications including The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, Poets & Writers, Slate, and Boston Review. He teaches creative writing and memoir at Stanford University.






