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Prose, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.
Joris Soeding discloses parts of his journey of family and pop culture, loss and healing, along the backdrop of a young man’s life milestones. Whether commuting to middle school basketball practice or rushing home from an evening shift at the pizzeria, Soeding offers approachable scenarios while connecting themes alongside the reader.
These five essays keep winding through pairs: parent and child, strangers, FBI agents, boyfriend and girlfriend, hotel owners, homes, an elder couple, police officers, television episodes, evenings, friends. Soeding offers just enough hope after each heartbreak. His moments are carefree as “we smiled to the camera in the afternoon sunlight,” yet the next steps are underlying. Soeding has gifted us with an extraordinary first collection of essays.
Joris Soeding’s most recent collection of poetry is After Highland Park (Origami Poems Project, 2021). Soeding’s writing has appeared in publications such as Another Chicago Magazine, Poetry Pacific, Portage Magazine, and Tint Journal. He is a 2021 and 2022 Pushcart Prize nominee and fifth/sixth grade Social Studies teacher in Chicago, where he resides with his wife, son, daughter, and cats.