Sabyasachi Roy

The Call-Center Complaint Line Sings

My headset hisses fate —
a stranger’s daily ache.
The hold-tone loops as if it cares,
though everyone knows it’s fake.

Habermas would grin:
“Talk builds the common ground.”
Yet half my callers mumble rage
then blame me for the sound.

Butler leans in slow:
“Performance shapes the role.”
I clear my throat, rehearse my smile,
pretend the script has soul.

I’ve done this job for years —
my chair knows every fight.
Still, sometimes someone sighs “thank you,”
and man —
that hits just right.

Sabyasachi Roy is the assistant editor of Tint, and author of Writing While the World Burns and Micro Craft for Sentences that Sing, e-books on the craft of writing published by Authors Publish. His poems have appeared in Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review, Singapore Unbound, The Wise Owl, and others. His fiction has been published in Viridine Literary, Inglenook Lit, After the Storm, among several journals. He writes craft essays regularly for Authors Publish, and his photography has been featured in The Sunlight Press, Ink In Thirds Magazine, and as a cover image in Sanctuary Asia. His oil paintings have appeared in The Hooghly Review among others.

Follow his writing on Matador: https://creators.matadornetwork.com/profile/e0x59k96/

Craft essays: https://authorspublish.com/author/sabyasachi/, https://sabyasachiroy.substack.com/

Photography:  https://www.eyeem.com/u/sabyasachi13/illustrations