Here is your challenge, and I give fair warning, it includes a little twist. The first part of the challenge is to write a poem which includes an old-fashioned rotary phone. (Yegods, report me to the Department of Redundancy Department; ALL rotary phones are old fashioned!)
Now here's the twist. You aren't required to have anyone call or be called, but if you do, the caller (or person called) can NOT be someone who actually might have used a rotary phone! In other words, nobody from the early part of the 20th century through at least the 1960s. They must either be someone who lived before that time, or someone from the present, who would obviously have a newer device.
What I'm looking for is a little bit of surrealism, or poetic magic. Go ahead and bend reality a bit. Your phone can be either a household phone, a business line, or a public phone booth. It can be in a museum, or a trash bin. Your phone can defy the laws of time. It can be an agent of good or evil; it can be haunted, cursed or lucky. You can have Henry VIII take a call, or have a modern text-happy teenager be relegated to the dial phone Twilight Zone. Have fun with this, and let your imagination roam.
Please write a NEW poem for this, and because this is Fireblossom Friday, no Oriental short forms like haiku. If you have any questions, dial "O" for the operator!
17 comments:
Fantastic prompt, Shay. I had a lot of fun with it, and hope I followed your precepts correctly. It seems salvation never answers the phone.
I don't remember telephone exchanges, but I do remember rotary phones. And party lines. Anybody remember party lines?
Great challenge ~~ DICKENS 1274-R ~~~ reporting for duty!
Such a cool challenge, Shay. I'm just not sure my tired brain is up to it.
MZ, I lived for a while on a small farm during my high school years and we had a wind up phone on a party line. Good times!
That's a good one with a nice twist.
Rotary phones really made dialing into a radio station contest line a challenge. I tried my best, little shay, la la mosk
I thought I might have had an old Ericofon (red) but I seem to have gotten rid of that one... anyway I thought of an interesting call hope it works.
Oh this is a fun poem. I'm so old I even remember a phone where I picked up the receiver and a live person on the other end said "Number, please" and connected us. Back in ancient times, LOL. And does anyone remember "party lines", where the line was shared and you could overhear your neighbor's conversations? I likely wont write to this till tomorrow morning, as it is six p.m. and my brain has shut off. But this is such a fun prompt, I am delighted.
Fun prompt, I mean. See what I mean? And I see others - much younger others - remember party lines! Wow.
Hi Shay--I remember rotary phones (I actually had one until recently and used it--I still have it but it was dropped an awful lot and, of course, a bit slow)--and also remember party lines.
And Exchanges--
A very fun prompt. I am not totally thrilled with mine as I think the prompt deserves more fantasy, but my life is a bit pressed at the moment! Thanks. k.
I have memories of a rotary phone for sure. All through my teen years. One phone. In the kitchen. Not cordless, of course. Just not sure I can meet that darn twist - in not that creative. I have children home this weekend - will try to post late Thanks for the challenge.
to say i know the rotary phone is to say my age ((Smiles))
much love...
Yes rotary. Yes party lines. So much land fill ... I sure hope I understood the prompt properly. I had lots of fun thinking about it. Have a great weekend.
I will be by this weekend to visit the ones I didn't get to on Thursday. :-)
Great prompt Shay!
I'm very late with this, snowed under with other things, but had to have a go at such a fun prompt. Blown away by the brilliance of everyone else's!
Oh, sorry, thought I'd removed the 'correct link' note from last time. There's only the one here.
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