When I Call

by John Brantingham

As I talk to her,
I like to think of
our paperback copy
of Thomas More's
Utopia sitting

on the phone table.
No one reads Utopia
No one has ever
read Utopia
No one has ever

wanted to read
Utopia, not
even Thomas More.
The only action
it will ever see

is when she absently
flips its pages while
she talks to me . When
I call, I like to
think of her doing that.