VOICEMAIL

On the other side of the world –
an exaggeration – I mean, all the way
over there: California, an unbearable distance
when faced with the Atlantic.

A man of eighty-nine – one month shy
of ninety – is atop Mount Baldy,
an elevation of ten thousand: a meager peak
in the grand scheme of Kilimanjaro, Everest.

He is with his guide – Seu – Brazilian –
once employed by the German consulate,
Lufthansa – a UCLA graduate, found in the
employment pages of the Daily Bruin. 

(I have heard he did not know of the Marx Brothers,
that he is reluctant to make judgments
of highly sensitive political issues;
I am certain my sister finds him attractive)

“Hello Rose – this is your grandpa –
I’m on the top of a mountain,
and I just had a thought.”