This Is Love

10 May 2026

This Is Love

Bronwyn Carver

On the corner of 3rd and Burnside sits a free payphone.
It is a unicorn in a city of ghost souls.
I think the removal of payphones was just another example of punishing the poor and the homeless.
Those who do not always have access to communications, for appointments,
for family to call to let them know that they too are okay.
Public phones that are left are found in places that are usually not welcoming to the homeless or the poor.
Airports, hotels, restaurants.
But imagine a place where you can pick up the receiver and dial a number without coin in pocket and reclaim just a portion of your independence, a reassurance, perhaps your health.
When I was 14, I had run away from home.
I had been gone for over 8 months.
And when I had gotten back to New York City, on the corner by a bodega was a phone booth.
It was broken in a way that allowed calls to be placed for free.
There, on the busy street corner, I called my parents to let them know that I was okay, that I loved them, and I was sorry.
Then I hung up.

Published 2025 as part of The Old Town Crier at the Futel installation in front of Street Roots.

Supported by a Portland Arts Project grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Arts Access Fund.

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