My aunt Sheila was an operator
In the old days when you picked up
Said, Operator, and she would be
There, passing out advice

She would manually unplug a wire
Then plug it in another location
To establish connection

There are stories of operators
Listening in on the affairs of politicians
JFK comes to mind

That plugging process, the physical
Process of actual connection
Wonder if she thought of names
When she tugged at the wires.

 

[Refer: This poem refers to the switchboard operator above.]

JD DeHart is an English teacher and edits the website Mount Parable. DeHart’s work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Steel Toe Review, The Commonline Journal, and Eye On Life Magazine, and she has work forthcoming in Straight Forward, The Stray Branch, and The Other Herald. He has two poem collections available on Amazon (Decaf Days and Sunrise of Tomorrow).

Image by Cliff