Madam And The Phone Bill
You say I O.K.ed
LONG DISTANCE?
O.K.ed it when?
My goodness, Central
That was then!
I'm mad and disgusted
With that Negro now.
I don't pay no REVERSED
CHARGES nohow.
You say, I will pay it—
Else you'll take out my phone?
You better let
My phone alone.
I didn't ask him
To telephone me.
Roscoe knows darn well
LONG DISTANCE
Ain't free.
If I ever catch him,
Lawd, have pity!
Calling me up
From Kansas City.
Just to say he loves me!
I knowed that was so.
Why didn't he tell me some'n
I don't know?
For instance, what can
Them other girls do
That Alberta K. Johnson
Can't do—and more, too?
What's that, Central?
You say you don't care
Nothing about my
Private affair?
Well, even less about your
PHONE BILL, does I care!
Un-humm-m! . . . Yes!
You say I gave my O.K.?
Well, that O.K. you may keep—
But I sure ain't gonna pay!
This is one of a number of Madam poems by Langston Hughes that can be considered as a lonked series.Madam And The Rent Man http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/70753 Madam And The Census Man http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/70755 Madam And Her Madam http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/12621 Madam And The Phone Bill http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/12620 Madam’s Past History http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/70751