“…the calm of the pond, and the guilt of the ocean
hushing secrets along dorchester’s shores. beantown,
the best to keep the kept. slades on tremont and bintou’s

in roslindale. home is the booth we plop into, the cafes
where the cashier craft meals that fill us. dear city,
southwest corridor thumming from the subway racing

against air. patron saint of travelers, plague of trolleys,
hold us still at lights, unlearn us bustle and hand us
patience. ..’’

— From “Boston Ode,’’ by Porsha Olayiwola, Boston’s poet laureate