RENEE GOOD POETRY DIRGE

Under short notice the city gathered for a martyr's remembrance. Other cities gathered in other ways. The images are what I can share of the slice of 1/9/26 rapid response action that took place in my town. No doom hung over folks that night, and we lifted together the worthiness of her life.

The people brought the colors and standards they had kept close from other mobilizations. And the electronic candles of the December holiday, now put to a somber purpose.

While the audio was bashfully cold, portable PA equipment's warmer-days attire inadequate to lift voices into the winter air; this kept the gathering unusually quiet, but insufficiently engaged to draw closer into circles of warmth. None shouted. Multiple moments of public silence were mournfully observed.

The gathering of 80-100 activists was given berth by the Friday nightlife that carried on elsewhere in town, though everywhere the freezing wet air very tanglibly dampened spirits.

Throughout the remembrance, a pair of officers uniformed as AAPD looked on from the sidewalk of Liberty St. Mourners recieved them with trust they were there to keep watch for any mourner-passerby or mourner-vehicle happenings. About a dozen children were present with their families.

after 10 minutes of programming, the Gathering adjourned softly, promising a march would gather the following morning. Many residents remained, ambling Liberty Plaza