by Jess Morgan
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| DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — On the top floor of a modest two-story brick building near the shore of Lake Superior, the executive director of northern Minnesota’s only abortion clinic flits from room to room, checking in patients, fielding phone calls from people seeking appointments and handling billing questions from those struggling to pay. In the waiting room at WE Health Clinic in Duluth, patients from Wisconsin and Texas sit among Minnesotans — the leading edge of an expected uptick in out-of-state patients following the Supreme Court’s removal of the federal right to abortion. Photo: A clinic escort outside WE Health Clinic in Duluth, Minn., awaits the arrival of patients, Thursday, July 7, 2022. The clinic escorts protect patients from protesters as they approach and enter the clinic. (AP Photo/Derek Montgomery) |
We mosh to punk in a shower of bubbles
and beer at house shows on Saturday
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
Decked out in tin foil and wearing fish heads,
we flail and wail in the annual Smelt Parade
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
Our earrings are handmade, we drink coffee
brewed downtown and our music is Homegrown
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
An underground art collective hauls a piano
onto Lake Superior for improvisation opera
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
We plow out each other’s cars in negative
thirty-degree temperature snow storms
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
Our lake is as big as the sea. She is grounding,
healing and as comforting as living
within a city where abortion is legal and safe.
Pro-choice protestors sing the child I babysit
happy birthday and feed him cupcakes
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
Indigenous land protectors chant and bring
their drums when we rally for choice
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
A surprising amount of us are queer or trans,
and my non-binary heart feels right at home
in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
I’d like to own goats on the outskirts of town,
and will only raise a family or give birth
in a city where abortion is legal and safe.
My co-workers and I work together to provide
patients with gender-affirming healthcare
in my city’s clinic where abortion is legal and safe.
Patients kiss my hand after a suction abortion,
thanking me for holding theirs during their procedure
in my city’s clinic where abortion is legal and safe.
Too many Duluthians make a poverty wage and rent
isn’t cheap in my city where abortion is legal and safe.
And each day we must keep fighting for the culture,
clinic and city where abortion is legal and safe.
Jess Morgan is a nonbinary poet in Duluth, Minnesota where they juggle many hats. Their jobs include (but are not limited to) working as a wedding DJ, sound technician, patient educator for abortion services at WE Health clinic, hobby photographer, and occasional goat-sitter. They are a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Poems they've written have been included (or are soon to be included) in The Nemadji Review, Prøve Art Gallery's Zine titled Emerge, and the Wisconsin Review. Jess shares a Tik Tok account with their partner called @ColdLakeHotPoets to capture their poetry adventures around Duluth.