The Call

by Joshua Walker

He calls once—

I don’t answer.

The line goes dead.

He calls again.

Outside.

I don’t care.

The wind rattles the windows.

Shadows stretch across the walls,

and the floor creaks under nothing.

By the third call, he’s in the room.

Defeated.

I still don’t care.

He stops.

I move on.

The house exhales, empty but alive,

and the night folds back into itself.

Joshua Walker is a disabled poet living with schizoaffective disorder. His work explores the edges of madness, memory, and survival. Walker’s poetry appears in Potomac Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, Solarpunk Magazine, and more, speaking with fire, silence, and unflinching truth. Bluesky (he/him)

Image credit: Hilma af Klint (Swedish, 1862-1944)Buddhas Standpoint in the Earthly Life No. 3 (1920) Artvee.com