The Green Line perseveres
by Amy Baskin
—for Ricky Best, Taliesin Namkai-Meche, Micah Fletcher and the young women they defended on on the train in Portland, Oregon on May 26th, 2017
notice how platforms continue
to welcome passengers
doors open and usher us through
bruised purple padded seats hold our weight
maps that witnessed atrocity remain hanging
aisles unchanged make way for each load
feet and wheels shuffle and skid
handstraps brace silent under tight grips
loudspeakers gently remind all
travelers to report suspicious activity
this compartment glistens in earnest
scrubbed clean of all visible trauma
and what is love but a form of service
the courage to remember to continue
an offer to heal a bleeding sacred contract
to rebirth and deliver safe passage
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