Don't hang up,
I'm not a heckler
I NEED your help
but I can't tell you my name.
I'm in a phone booth
while mom buys groceries,
so I won't take long.
I heard your talk show
and I'm scared. Last summer,
when I was just thirteen,
I balled with a guy
I met at the bus station.
Now I've got these purple spots
all down my stomach.
I drink five shakes a day
and I have lost fifteen pounds
in just three months!
I'm afraid to go to our doctor
cause he's my dad.
He'd beat the shit out of me
for liking guys.
Can you tell me somebody else
to call?
Cripes! Here comes mom. Bye!
Copyright 1995 by Louie Crew. Do not publish in any form except with
his permission in writing. Louie Crew, Box 30, Newark, NJ 07101.
Publication history:Making Waves 2.2 (February 1995): 2.
Blue Productions August 1992. A 3-minute video produced and directed by Scott Silver. An adaptation of Crew's poem of the same title **AV**.
Don't Hang Up. An Anthology of Poems about AIDS. Edited by Andrew Miller. Univ. of SD Press, USD AIDS Task Force, & Copen Foundation, 1993. Crew's title poem appears on p. 16.
Integrity Heartland Voice June 1992: 11.
Integrity/Austin News 7.11 (July 1992): 3.
Koinonia 5.5 (May 1992): 11.
More Light Update 13.5 (December 1992): 13.
Other Voice Spring/Summer 1982: no page.
Walking With Integrity 1.2 (May 1992): 23.