COUNSELOR: Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
CALLER: Listen
COUNSELOR: That’s what I’m here for.
CALLER: with the night falling we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome. For what?
CALLER: we are stopping on the bridges
COUNSELOR: Is there traffic behind you?
CALLER: to bow from the railings
COUNSELOR: Just don’t lean over too far, OK?
CALLER: we are running
COUNSELOR: On the railings?
CALLER: out of the glass rooms
COUNSELOR: Umm…
CALLER: with our mouths full of food
COUNSELOR: Are you trying to make me worry?
CALLER: to look at the sky
COUNSELOR: Why? What’s happening???
CALLER: and
COUNSELOR: They’re not bombing the parking lot with turkeys, are they?
CALLER: say
COUNSELOR: Because I’ve been through that once, and it was…uh…
CALLER: thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome. But please understand. I can help talk you through a problem, but I can’t protect you from ev–
CALLER: we are standing by the water thanking it
COUNSELOR: Not too close, I hope?
CALLER: standing by the windows
COUNSELOR: Again, not too close?
CALLER: looking out / in our directions
COUNSELOR: Right. But not leaning out. Right?
CALLER: back from a series of hospitals
COUNSELOR: Umm…I’m not here to say I told you so, but…
CALLER: back from a mugging
COUNSELOR: What???
CALLER: after funerals
COUNSELOR: You got mugged at a funeral?
CALLER: we are saying
COUNSELOR: I know, but it’s a lot to take in.
CALLER: thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome?
CALLER: after the news of the dead
COUNSELOR: You got mugged, at a funeral, for a newspaper?
CALLER: whether or not we knew them
COUNSELOR: You got mugged, at a funeral, for a newspaper, by someone you know?
CALLER: we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome, but it really isn’t necessary. It’s my job to help.
CALLER: over telephones
COUNSELOR: Yes, that’s in the job description.
CALLER: we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome! But is there anything I can do for you?
CALLER: in doorways
COUNSELOR: Wherever you are.
CALLER: and in the backs of cars
COUNSELOR: That’s starting to sound inappropriate.
CALLER: and in elevators
COUNSELOR: OK, really inappropriate.
CALLER: remembering wars
COUNSELOR: Are you having flashbacks? Did you serve?
CALLER: and the police at the door
COUNSELOR: Did you get served?
CALLER: and the beatings
COUNSELOR: What?
CALLER: on stairs
COUNSELOR: Wait—who beat you? Police? Enemy combatants? The mugger at the funeral?
CALLER: we are saying
COUNSELOR: You’re not. I mean maybe you are, but you’re saying so much that it’s hard to keep the story straight.
CALLER: thank you
COUNSELOR: You’re welcome. But–
CALLER: in the banks we are saying thank you / in the faces of the officials and the rich / and of all who will never change / we go on saying thank you thank you
COUNSELOR: Don’t you think maybe you’re taking this gratitude thing a little too far?
CALLER: with the animals dying around us / taking our feelings we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: Or a lot too far?
CALLER: with the forests falling faster than the minutes / of our lives we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: And yet…
CALLER: with the words going out like cells of a brain
COUNSELOR: Now we’re getting somewhere. What is killing those brain cells?
CALLER: with the cities growing over us / we are saying thank you faster and faster
COUNSELOR: Yes, I hear you. But–
CALLER: with nobody listening
COUNSELOR: I’m listening!
CALLER: we are saying thank you
COUNSELOR: Yes, I’m hearing you say that.
CALLER: thank you
COUNSELOR: I’m hearing you say it a lot.
CALLER: we are saying
COUNSELOR: I know.
CALLER: and waving
COUNSELOR: I didn’t know that. We’re on the phone.
CALLER: dark though it is
COUNSELOR: That is really dark, dude.
