Late Night Phone Calls by J. B. Hogan

If the phone rings after midnight,

it’s always you, and

you’re always at least

maybe one, two sheets

into the wind – or three.

And you want what?

To wake me up?

To tell me your latest news?

Maybe you’ll sing me a

verse or two of your new

favorite song, or read

another poem I wrote 

about you, or maybe

you’ll promise not to

call me so late anymore or

at least not when your 

so far into that wind

next time.

The next time – it could

be in three months or

a year if you land another

beau who you don’t want to call

late at night or who

won’t always pick up the phone 

when it rings late at night.

But none of that matters because 

I’ll always pick up the phone

when it rings late at night,

when I always think at first

it’s probably really bad news,

but then it’s always bound to be you.

Because I know if that phone

rings after midnight, it will be you –

three sheets into the wind, for sure, but

it always has been you, it always will be.

J. B. Hogan has been published in a number of journals including the Blue Lake Review, Crack the Spine, Copperfield Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Well Read Magazine, and Aphelion. His eleven books include Bar Harbor, Mexican Skies, Living Behind Time, Losing Cotton, and The Apostate. He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.