Mary Ann Mayer
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This fresh collection of plain-spoken poems captures the day-to-day life of a Rhode Island telephone man spanning forty years following World War II. In these poems, the telling is fast and no line sleeps. The voice is easy and rugged, empathic and wise-guy. All are distilled from true situations as told to the author by Bob Maitland, telephone man.
Telephone Man brings the reader into the world of a specialized trade that combines demanding physical labor with the exacting art of repairing broken connections – while perched on the top of telephone poles and crouched in cellar crawl-spaces.
But above all, Telephone Man is a human story. It shows us a distinctive temperament, which embraces quirky, even dangerous encounters. It shows us how keen an observer of human behavior the tradesman is, and how this becomes an essential tool in the toolkit. Set down as poems, this collection celebrates the lyric of the trade, its practitioner, and reveals the bounty of humor and humanity in the daily grind.
Mary Ann (Maitland) Mayer grew up in Lincoln, Rhode Island. She practiced occupational therapy in and around Boston, New Bedford, and Providence for twenty-five years, and is the author of several clinical articles and textbook chapters. She holds degrees from Boston University and Tufts University. Mary Ann has been writing poetry for ten years. She is a member of the writers'' community at the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Her poems have appeared in journals including Mediphors, Poesy, and Crone''s Nest, and in anthologies published by 1st Books, Feminist Writers Guild, and Outriders Press. She is a past recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council award.
Mary Ann is proud that Telephone Man is her first book of poetry. She considers the opportunity to collaborate with her father and to render his experiences into poems, a gift. About Telephone Man, she says: Although the diction and images of this book are unique and mark a departure from my usual poetry, I always enjoy imaginatively rendering real experiences, and the grittier the better. I feel that poetry is an ideal way to evoke meaning from the commonplace, and to shine a light into the hidden corners of daily life.
With her loving and creative husband Carl Peter (Pete) Mayer and their gifted bird dog Emma (pen-named Ezra Hound), she divides her time between Sharon, Massachusetts and Franconia, New Hampshire
A Limit to Service
m’am
why do you want me to take my shoes off?
even in my own house
I don’t take off my shoes
besides they’re clean
and I’m just doing your inside repair
I won’t be dragging dirt in so
no I can’t take off my shoes
I’ll call my boss
have him send somebody else out
to do the job
the new guy
might take off his shoes
Tools
voltmeter around your neck
test set clipped on your belt
canvas tool bag hangin on your belt
next to rolls of tape hittin you in the rear
while you’re climbin loaded down
with d-rings cutters cable-ties crimps and connectors
a can of hornet spray near full if you’re lucky
cuz once you’re up there you’re at their mercy
and it’s a good idea
to take your hand ax and whack the pole before goin up
give ‘em warning then you can get up to the job
unhook the d-ring on your body belt
swing the belt around the pole
hook it on the other hip
lean back relax hope
you didn’t forget your Lucky Strikes
and matches in the truck
kids’d be lookin up watchin ya the whole time
the set-up the climb the sun
hitting your spikes and tools high up there
one ear cupping the test set against your shoulder
two hands cupping a match to light your smoke
they yell hey phone man hey phone man
then
you give ’em what they’re waiting for
a wave down to those upturned faces
