pratt street – Page 2 – sunrise in a small city

inland harbor

fog wanders in not so often
like a thirsty stray dog
walking up the bay
a quiet flock of birds from the west
suddenly all around
becoming the chilling air
lingering
not moving on.
at last melting away

harbor at sunrise — (less fog helped the port of baltimore compete with the new york port in the 19th century)

transition spiral

spinning steel booms along
wayside forest rivers streams fields mountains rocks
vibrating in new harmony
prime movers roll like firing cannon
on ribbons and zig zags
superelevation comforts
so many wheels turning
overthrowing

roundhouse at sunrise — (the baltimore and ohio railroad began operating to ellicott city in 1830)

first steam mill

eighty bushels per hour
no hands oliver evans system
superfine flour.
the millers weren’t yet alarmed.
certain individuals cornered coal

aquarium at sunrise — (a steam-powered mill began operating on the pier at the end of gay street in 1814)

corpus chesapeake

from bowleys wharf
a whoosh of steam and shaft and water churning
the first of five million pulses
chugging in the rhythm and patience of pistons
from patapsco to susquehanna to elk to sassafras
to chester to miles to choptank to honga
to nanticoke to wicomoco to pocomoke to james
to york to plankatank to rappahannock to yacomoco
to potomac to patuxent to severn to magothy
five generations of machine and human
amalgamating anthroestuary into analog.
relatively innocent in plying the water
sunrise and morning
midday and afternoon
evening and sunset
through the hours of darkness.
polished steamboats once emanating from the patapsco
in tide-like rhythm

harbor and aquarium at sunrise — (the first steamboat to ply the chesapeake sailed from bowley’s wharf in 1813)

baltimore slave clipper

swimming and flying
weaving ocean and wind into a jet stream,
wood and canvass
carved into an arrow hurtling with its bow,
constantly propelled.
swift upon another swifter away in battle.
carrying cargo with express and beauty.
finally refitted for slave transport.
just a rotting rusting weapon

rigging at sunrise — (as world trade required larger shipping vessels in the 19th century, baltimore clippers were repurposed and retrofitted to specialize in transporting slaves and contraband)

risingest town

warehouses around the water
tobacco and snuff
wheat and corn and flour and bread
sugar and rum
iron
paper and wool
oak and poplar and mahogany and spruce
tar and turpentine
orange juice and coconuts
rice and cotton
fish and furs and skins
pork and beef and butter and cheese
beeswax and candles
nails and boots and assembling ships.
baltimore bricks

warehouse at sunrise — (in 1799 almost 200 warehouses were clustered around the harbor)

bowleys wharf

mr hanna transacting
on planks on piles of privy waste
and dredgings and oyster shells.
lost his small fortune in too many shipments to trinidad

south and water streets at sunrise — (in 1785 pile driving machines started being used in wharf construction)

coles harbor

hills roll up and out
beyond the last reach of the sea
curled up,
the small green bones of mountain upon mountain
mashed and heaped from volcanoes and deltas and plains
then washed away.
hap hazard
timber neck
welsh adventure
diligence
mary borne
ridgelys delight.
a warren of plantations and farms in the hills around the harbor
with narrow roads through the marshes and woods

inner harbor at sunrise — (cole’s harbor, which would later be the area first incorporated into baltimore town, was first warranted in 1668 and was surrounded by several land patents and farms)