Helpline

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.

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Seventeen Years

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Flight

Joris Soeding

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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.

• At Maple Park for Fireworks