Erika Meitner’s poem "Porto, Portare, Portavi, Portatus" was recently featured in Poetry Society of America's column "In Their Own Words." Poems featured here are provided in full, with an ensuing commentary by the author. This poem is the last in Meitner’s newest collection Copia, and contains many of the elements that are featured throughout the collection as a whole: optimistic mid-century Detroit; vacant buildings as a symbolic understudy for bodies; and a peculiar feeling of longing, expressed through places waning in both health and atmosphere. Meitner gets personal about the poem and what inspired it, including the Latin verb porto from which the poem takes its name, and the themes of fertility and decay which are present throughout her new collection. Click here to read the entire piece, including the full poem "Porto, Portare, Portavi, Portatus." Copia is available at the BOA Bookstore.