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POETRY

Give Ear

“Give Ear” read by Patrick T. Reardon.

Give ear, Lucy.

Consider the streets of Chicago —
the numbers, 35^th, 79^th, 103^rd,
Streets and Places, below Madison;
K-town to the west
(Kilpatrick, Keating, Kilbourn),
and L-town, M-town, and on;
the Indian angles along ridges
(Vincennes, Clark, Archer, Ogden).
Each immigrant footstep.

Hearken the cry of
dawn garbage trucks alleying
through Andersonville, Ukrainian Village,
South Chicago, Lincoln Square,
Austin, Ashburn, Lake View, Edgewater.

In the afternoon, Lucy, look up.
Lines of airliners move high above
across the blue, following Bryn Mawr
to the airport, following Lawrence,
following Foster.

A congress of sparrows
in this tree of furious debate,
pigeon hobos clotting the curb.

What is the sound of pain?

Evil dwells in foolishness and deceit —
in lust for comfort,
the cushion of bubble wrap.

Temple mercy, Lucy.
Right road, joy.

Compass the lost tribes,
the sinner saints, the precinct captains,
the no-work job holders,
the frayed and frictioned teachers
with their frayed and frictioned children,
the sidewalk wounded in the Loop,
on Michigan, outside Aldi’s on Broadway,
the singer of the song of songs,
the aging loudspeaker preacher,
the skipping peach-dress girl,
the crowd of high schoolers
louding up McDonald’s,
goofy with their youth and
zest and confusion, everything
a first, vacant lots awaiting construction.

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Patrick T. Reardon, a Chicago Tribune reporter from 1976 to 2009, is the author of seven poetry collections. His latest is Every Marred Thing: A Time in America, the winner of the 2024 Faulkner-Wisdom Prize from the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society of New Orleans (Lavender Ink). He is a five-time nominee in poetry for a Pushcart Prize. His poetry has appeared in America, RHINO, Commonweal, After Hours, Autumn Sky, Burningword Literary Journal and other journals. He is also the author of the history The Loop: The “L” Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago.

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Image is in the Public Domain.