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                      Helpline

                      Published by Joris Soeding at October 30, 2021
                      Categories
                      • Poetry
                      Tags
                      • Chicago
                      • helpline
                      • memories
                      • phone calls
                      city at night

                      Image by Pedro Lastra on Unsplash

                      Joris Soeding

                      Rinsing the coffee pot on a Friday night
                      swirling hot water into glass
                      it is funny how I revert
                      to Friday nights almost twenty years ago
                      sponge into stains that seemed scratchy
                      at the bottom
                      after a day of meetings at long tables
                      just after 8, like tonight
                      taking phone calls on the fifth floor
                      of 200 North Michigan Avenue
                      most strangers looked for times,
                      addresses—in town for a weekend
                      one call from a woman
                      struggling
                      wondering at strength
                      “how do you do it?”
                      listening, calming, advising
                      until better for that night
                      some nights sweet ’n sour chicken
                      from a place greasy and quiet
                      waiting at the bus stop
                      across from Tribune Tower
                      snow onto the bridge
                      Chicago River
                      I pondered the night’s calls
                      what would become of me after this


                      Want more poetry beyond Helpline? Here are other beautiful works by poets around the world.

                      Pigtails

                      Seventeen Years

                      An Anthem of Freedom

                      Research in Love for My Welfare

                      The Cat’s Value

                      Flight

                      Joris Soeding
                      + postsBio

                      Joris Soeding’s most recent collections of poetry are Forty (Rinky Dink Press, 2019) and Home in Nine Moons (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2018). His writing has appeared in publications such as Another Chicago Magazine, Columbia Poetry Review, Red River Review, and Spillway. He is a fifth-grade Language Arts teacher in Chicago, where he resides with his wife, son, daughter, and kittens.

                      You may find Joris on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

                      • Joris Soeding
                        #molongui-disabled-link
                        At Maple Park for Fireworks

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                      5 Comments

                      1. Poetry from the MockingOwl Roost: Breath Mark says:
                        January 7, 2022 at 4:07 pm

                        […] Helpline […]

                        Reply
                      2. MockingOwl Roost Poetry Corner: Cormorant says:
                        January 7, 2022 at 4:17 pm

                        […] Helpline […]

                        Reply
                      3. Side Street Grove - MockingOwl Roost Poetry Corner says:
                        April 16, 2022 at 5:40 pm

                        […] Helpline […]

                        Reply
                      4. Breath Mark: Poetry Corner at the MockingOwl Roost says:
                        November 19, 2022 at 12:56 pm

                        […] Helpline […]

                        Reply
                      5. What I’ve Forgotten, a Poem says:
                        May 29, 2024 at 1:16 pm

                        […] Helpline […]

                        Reply

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