once in every

fire and flame
make me stronger
another chance again
still a lifetime
still i cry

pennsylvania avenue at sunrise
(the orioles, then the vibra-naires—sonny til, george nelson, alex sharp, johnny reed, lloyd gaither—and songwriter deborah chessler, all from west baltimore, began collaborating in 1948 and, according to many music historians, sparked the explosion of rock and roll after getting started on corners and in clubs on pennsylvania avenue)

inpatientcity

breathing shallow sweating dizzy
numb blurred not thinking through
diagprescribed
fractionally distilled elixirpolymers
combpestled
mechanical opiates of directforce
supremely lucrative to attending charlycians
breathingeatingpissingshitting monetizedlifeforce
incapitalpathology

powerplant at sunrise
(in 1948 the national city lines holding company funded by gm, standard oil, firestone, and phillips added complete control of the baltimore transit company, which was powering electric streetcars from its plant on pratt street, to its collection of almost fifty soon-to-be disinvested and dismantled city streetcar utilities across the country)

two lights on behind

my baby left me
leaving hate
thinking memory pain
fading understanding why
consciousness unaffected
here with less
is somehow more and more
unemptying emptiness

train and lake after sunrise
(in 1948 a majority of maryland, and baltimore city, voters approved a constitutional amendment authored by baltimore county that restricted the city’s ability to grow)