Month: August 2017

one percent solutions

a doctor of greed and his consultant
survey blue veins and red arteries
beneath thin white skin of dotted and scarred anthropocene
this time a needle right here
injecting tiny amounts of capitalcaine
capillaries excrete morphund
our doctor lounges in velveteen satisfaction and ecstasy
upthrusts a needle-like finger of steel and silicon
flagtopped
signifying fuck you

william donald schaefer building at sunrise
(merritt savings and loan started building the now william donald schaefer building at six saint paul street before collapsing in 1985 from gross mismanagement and misappropriation; the state paid chase 25 million to take over the business–and in 1993 bought the building for 12 million—starting the wholesale transfer of local financial firms to u.s. and international control)

1984more

the arcing sun shines on dolphin sized patapsco koi
ship sized boulders arrange around the harbor under giant oaks
arabbers walk next to carts loaded with blueberries
chard cabbage celery onions spinach beets radishes eggplant artichokes red peppers rhubarb bananas strawberries grapefruit kumquats clementines lemons star fruit
walnuts almonds quinoa
tall gleaming glass marble buildings teem with laboratories of good
birds soar and dart like so many bees and butterflies in a country garden
great dogs manage cadres of brushed sheep and shimmering horses
people in flowers jewels gowns stroll comfortably
privatepublic ships come into the harbor gracefully

harbor court at sunrise
(in 1984 the city donated land to a billionaire developer to build harbor court on light street)

wire song

words in rhythm of armies assembled with spears and shields from rowed sailing ships
feint through vast spaces in atoms near those sitting outside on starry nights
psalms in antiphony of dazzling light decaying shadows in canon
reverberate rising gliding down carved stone and glass
stories in passion aria duet trio ensemble
infuse in wax and waves of radio
buzzing chaotic humanity
planetstrapencoded
voices sounds
explode

point breeze at sunrise
(in 1984 the western union baltimore works on broening parkway at point breeze, where transoceanic cables and other telecommunications components were manufactured, closed)

fully lighted with fires

benjamin franklin butler camps in the warrens under federal hill
each day slowly in full uniform walks to the artillery
fires a shot into the heart of our city
our soldiers die east west southeast southwest
we have not surrendered
have not been destroyed
until we lift overhead our swords
then humbly lay them down
he pummels us like slowly dripping water

urban revelopment at sunrise
(a 1983 a civil rights commission assessment of city economic development recommended greater effort to foster black businesses, more equitable commercial lending, increased city contracting with black businesses, increased access to technical and management training for black community members, more aggressive corporate affirmative action, more relevant job training for unemployed community members, and immediate and concerted action to reduce unemployment—the mayor’s office responded that it was false to assume “that a government like ours bears sole responsibility for producing results”)

drawing out somewhere

cloud pillars etch lines around tired city faces
shadows push away from bright lights
moses uturns
myth hopelessly lost
pouring concrete into river of life
chariots heave gravel and sand
dry waters muddy land divide
children wall around pursuing encircles
sea becomes tarmac
aggregate of souls cast aside
and souls rotting iron in acid rain
flowing eddying promised hatred
some walk on utterly confused
moses, take the free way to egypt
command love and peace

uninterstate at sunrise
(I-170 was cancelled in 1981: I-595 was cancelled in 1983; route 40 continues to spread apart west baltimore)

shadecounter

a sailor returning
holds firm
ninety ways of smelling water
ripping into every meal
aortas veins feeding filtering
nerves ringing in wind
each day a space sealed and stowed
jet propelled through twisting time
on the rim of dim dark implosion
before memory stops

pier 3 at surnise
(the national aquarium opened as the baltimore aquarium in 1981 on pier 3)

landmayorcouncils

we had rats herding roaches
as we walked behind
west onto odonnell the rats saw a captains ghost and some turned back
the roaches were jumpy arthritic
couldn’t walk without limping
south of patterson the rats felt thunder around behind and more peeled away
the roaches were twitchy sneezing
couldn’t walk without staggering
crossing pratt the rats heard a funeral train whistle and most ran off
the roaches were spitting shitting peeled paint
couldn’t walk anymore
we scooped the roaches into jars and finished our walk
the mayor said he loved catching fireflies we should play more ball
the director said those are baltimore water bugs not the biting kind
so we hauled out broken floorboards and toilets and plaster and mud
and made them dance around the room until the council began to sing
magicheroics in uncitytoo

odonnell street at sunrise
(the baltimore welfare rights organization and residents annie rogers, rosaline lundsford, and others carried out a rent strike in 1978 to get long overdue maintenance for housing)

here and there this and that

facebanging newly opened rose
deep convicted luminous
echoing color
petals brown loam
green blackening sepals leaflitter
dried fruits wingsown gutfermented
earthnectar dispersing shimmering sungrains
ephemeraternal beauty
tinkling symphony in roomsoul
justice came near
stay my love

catholic worker house at sunrise
(mary moylan returned from the underground in 1979, with the help of viva house, which, since 1968, shares love and community in sowebo from 26 south mount street)