Boketto

jendurbent:

Lady liberty, trans woman,
sits on the banks of the Potomac.
In her left hand, cherry blossoms
from last year. She plucks one at a time
with her right, tosses them
in the river. Flowers ride the current
out of sight. Will she live to see
the bloom again?
The beauty, the ephemeral truth?

A blindfold (willed to her
from murdered sister justice)
pulled down over her nose and mouth,
keeps out tear gas
from made in USA containers behind her.

A moment of doubt: should
she fall into the water? Let her strength
seep silently away. Perhaps. But not today.

She stands, looks, crosses the street,
unseen by police, walking home,
a small apartment far from K Street,
far from Pennsylvania Avenue,
far from the mall,
where she can get to work.