long-distance
Kindra McDonald
I call my sister and get the number
for the Suicide Prevention Hotline
because after raising her children
and sending them into their own lives
she returned to school to certify a lifelong
talent of strong ears and listening shoulders
a career that has called her like neon arrows
pointing cracked hearts and broken people
to her, while I never tell the many times
I have needed the help she offers now
in her room she has carefully curated
made welcome with oversized chairs
sharpened crayons and weighted blankets
I call her nearly daily to hear her voicemail
which says if this is an emergency
call 911 or the Suicide Prevention Hotline
which I listen to again as she takes on
the weight of others until her frame
is birdlike and cushioned only with stories
of sorrow, I will not tell her
my own. I call my sister, I call
my sister, I call and recite the number
for the Suicide Prevention Hotline
her voice soft and reassuring
I hang up.
###
Kindra McDonald is the author of the poetry collections Fossils published by Finishing Line Press and In the Meat Years by Aldrich Press, both in 2019 and the chapbooks Concealed Weapons, (2015) and Elements and Briars, (2016.) She received her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and her BA from Virginia Wesleyan University. Her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies to include Rise up Review, Twyckenham Notes, Muddy River Poetry Review and the anthology, The Nearest Poem. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for Bettering American Poetry. She lives in the city of mermaids with her husband and cats where she bakes, hikes, and changes hobbies monthly.
I call my sister and get the number
for the Suicide Prevention Hotline
because after raising her children
and sending them into their own lives
she returned to school to certify a lifelong
talent of strong ears and listening shoulders
a career that has called her like neon arrows
pointing cracked hearts and broken people
to her, while I never tell the many times
I have needed the help she offers now
in her room she has carefully curated
made welcome with oversized chairs
sharpened crayons and weighted blankets
I call her nearly daily to hear her voicemail
which says if this is an emergency
call 911 or the Suicide Prevention Hotline
which I listen to again as she takes on
the weight of others until her frame
is birdlike and cushioned only with stories
of sorrow, I will not tell her
my own. I call my sister, I call
my sister, I call and recite the number
for the Suicide Prevention Hotline
her voice soft and reassuring
I hang up.
###
Kindra McDonald is the author of the poetry collections Fossils published by Finishing Line Press and In the Meat Years by Aldrich Press, both in 2019 and the chapbooks Concealed Weapons, (2015) and Elements and Briars, (2016.) She received her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and her BA from Virginia Wesleyan University. Her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies to include Rise up Review, Twyckenham Notes, Muddy River Poetry Review and the anthology, The Nearest Poem. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for Bettering American Poetry. She lives in the city of mermaids with her husband and cats where she bakes, hikes, and changes hobbies monthly.
