Tag: anthropocene

doctor stevensons experiment

durum, red, and white
from rolling amber waves
in frederick, baltimore, harford
york and lancaster.
milled and moved across oceans
feeding armies of empire
and the world.
with star power filtered for a billion years

elevator at sunrise
(in 1750 the first cargo of wheat was shipped from fells point to ireland, spurring a boom that established baltimore as a major port city)

mary katherine goddard

freshest advices both foreign and domestic
progress of the enemy
intelligence from europe
details of naval engagements
received by last nights mail
and from vessels arrived
reported to the public of baltimore-town.
true stories
current prices
newly open, to be sold, lost, letters left
from the woman at the printing office on market street across from the coffee house
who also delivered the mail through insurrection and war.
only to be dismissed 
brand new corrupt government.
with ingratitude incivility injustice beyond description

market place at sunrise
(baltimore town’s first newspaper, started in 1773 on market street, was co-edited by ms. goddard)

water lots

to the channel of the river
that penetrated a ledge
wharves of pine cord
one thousand feet.
named when it ran fast and cold
and the channel was glens and gorges
stretching from sunrise to sunset

old pier at sunrise
(in 1759 two landowners built wharves from gay and lombard streets to avoid the cost of buying a waterfront lot)

back inhabitants

horse, cart, and wagon
clatter over the public bridge
between meadow and marsh
over the stream.
from west and north and east
spinners and weavers, tanners, millers and brewers
barbers and tailors and shoemakers
coopers and wheelwrights and carpenters
butchers and bakers
laborers.
midwives

freeway at sunrise
(jones town and baltimore town, connected by a public bridge over jones falls near gay street, merged in 1745 and were becoming a center of activity for colonists in counties to the north and west)

tide covered with froth

along the shores
hunters came
killing with stones
and harvesting,
always walking.
settling where fish teemed,
cultivating and weaving and potting
carving and tanning and painting.
andaste were hunting to the north of this backwater
when a lone shallop
rose on the water with the sun.
and slipped quietly past

cove at sunrise
(humans ranged into the patapsco region more than 18 thousand years ago as the glaciers of the last ice age, which had reached northern pennsylvania, were receding–indigenous people were here when captain john smith explored the region in 1608)