underlying patapsco

floating in the streets on the water
a time mirage
the beginning of value trust exploitation
winds earthfired and solar sweep across
chappedsmooth hands dangle and grasp from walking torsosleeves
their notions predatory desperate seek dissipating warm glow
rocks that burn
pieces of stars
promises
molded earth
minted metal
words that echo in dopamine
calculated payments
breathing dying debtors to the sun

church window at sunrise
(alex brown and sons, the baltimore-based first investment bank in the united states, was sold to bankers trust in 1997 and absorbed into deutsche bank two years later—brown memorial park avenue presbyterian church on park avenue and lafayette streets memorializes george, alexander’s son)

crane buddha and toad

an august early morning
in city brick asphalt soil grass and trees julyabsorbed
a red brown black toad poised unglazed as clay
on a knee of buddha turned away from his gaze
from high unseen rare untimely
a grey crane alights on buddhas head
a glorious globe unfolding in the sun
ball of medicine paper burning with color and flowering stigma
crane folds its wings in predatory prayer
toads beautiful heart beats faster and broken
buddha smiles
after eating an ant and lichen toad hops to arbor vitae
crane loosens and swallows a stone of clay and spirals away
buddha remains serene eroding
cast toad into the city and crane into the world
to share hunger
for wet muddy reeds and rice in unsplit unfused atoms of drenching rain

buddha at sunrise
(in 1994 artist, teacher, and peace activist noriko ikaga formed the statue of buddha near dickson and lafayette streets—act for peace http://www.icanw.org/)

pinned duck balling

clipper captains roll shot
to divers rigging-strung overbow.
muggsy uncle robbie delbert frock
transform iron foul flesh
into echoing cedar
smooth bright polished wax
and then
a most modern bowlery
smallball sanctuary

duckpins at sunrise
(louis shecter opened a 100-lane bowling alley on charles street south of lafayette in 1937)

been ever since

turn on the faucet
rains here run to stormy sea
clouds walk by
streets whisper doomsday
towncity left alone
they dont come
blues about
hush now
dont quit me
long way to go

royal sunrse
(the douglass theater, later renamed the royal, opened in 1921 on pennsylvania avenue and lafayette street)