Tag: baltimore

chrysanthemum ruins

adele dreamed of an ancient city
white broken marble maroon crumbled brick
jumbled concrete bright yellow under a morning sun
she soared and circled slowly down
toward a windless world
eddies of dust spiraled undisturbed as voices
mostly gold streaked white purple red
heralds
journals
correspondents
news
she walked with an august gentleman
scattering seeds of autumn flowers blooming as they passed
“lord baltimore is american”
“my maryland”
turning around they stood in a sea
maroon touched with delicate gold

flower exchange at sunrise
(the baltimore florists exchange operated from 1906 to 1918 on franklin and saint paul streets)

precincts belts boroughs

carotid arteries reaching
into mind
onto face
move with moon
feed sun oxygen iron metalion
wash waste
oceanland
waterrock
planktonfungi
towncounty
harborfarm
portindustry
urbanrural
tidal rivers into cityorganic
through talltufted reeds
winds piping away

middle branch at sunrise
(in 1918 areas west and south of middle branch and around curtis bay, and immediately-surrounding suburbs west, north, and east were annexed in the interest of commerce: port control and size matters)

anubisghost

shuck shagged flies
found foul balls
brought good luck sleeping the first inning
minded the park
ate scraps
felt like a friend and seemed to know.
two light brown ears bent like bats wings
white face and chest
brown and white sox.
park home
time game
play team.
shucks panted smiling
never left
go see him there

electricity at sunrise
(established in 1916, the black sox played at westport park near annapolis road and clare street from 1917 to 1920)

styleplus

war to knife to hilt
fraying
flaying pinking shearing
brawling
rolling
pistol shotting
hacking
out into streets
spreading cutting stickering fusing sorting stitching
eddies of fists and flailing
slowly unoppose
fuse
swirl together in a rising flood of flashing steel
to wash against
great floating capitals of mislaid granite

clothing factory at sunrise
(struggles between united garment workers and amalgamated clothing workers unions erupted into a melee in the sonneborn clothing factory on pratt and paca streets in 1916)

proud dialects in rough house

smiling grace and beauty heads not bent
shoved and clubbed
promenading tall in spring streets not green
grabbed and herded
swinging winds into dresses not billowed
corralled and branded
festival of fields and earth
sunlove unpaid

clothing at sunrise
(in 1916 amalgamated clothing workers struck l. greif and brothers, operating on milton and ashland avenues)

quarantine

enforced
great change in the physical aspect of baltimore
isolation
was brought about by the removal of the buildings along saint paul
limit
cleared into a series of sunken gardens
infection
elaborate stairways
into lonely places

lonely place at sunrise
(in 1914 a thriving, predominantly black neighborhood around saint paul street between lexington and center streets was razed as mayor preston innovated baltimore apartheid)

home sweating

just
laws made
taxes paid
more humane
more effective
wages salaries earned
votes cast
more informed
more moral
public served
children raised
influence made
knowledge gained
corruption reduced
influence weighed
work respected
viciousness wounded
because

lyceum at sunrise
(in 1913 female garment workers marched from the labor lyceum at 1203 east baltimore street, and boarded a train to washington dc to participate in the woman’s suffrage procession)

once and future plunderbund

trade laws enrich rich
commercial conspiracies menace from a twilight zone in nation-state
unreasonable campaign contributions corrupt
overissues of stocks and bonds suppress legitimate investment
favored banks exploit
wage earners rights regarded as restraints
special privilege interests absorb and waste natural resources
impure foods compromise health
imperialism experiments abandon values
special interests misuse delegated power usurp government
begin to begin to begin again

armory at sunrise
(the 1912 democratic convention was held at the fifth regiment armory on bolton and preston streets and adopted a progressive platform)