How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
[…] conjuring up products
from places that now exist only in their hearts--
closed ports she must trade with. (36-38)
These are quite possibly the saddest lines in the poem. The past, as much as it might provide a place of comfort and a sense of home, is just not reality for many of these deli-goers. Their homes, and their lives before they moved, are lost—forever. That's why these former places are now "closed ports" that the store owner must "trade" with. In other words, she must help these people try to connect with a part of their past that will never be a part of their future.