Author: hinzadw

will be

armed badged indemnified marshalled and reported
only to know nothing.
one day to learn
integrity communication community and urgency

bank street at sunrise
(the police force was authorized by the state legislature to succeed constables and night watchmen in 1853 but subsequently co-opted by the know-nothing party—the eastern district station on bank street predated the legislation)

prometheus caged

a city-county with a senator and just so many delegates
free sane white males
not governed by duelists
with masters and slaves
three courts
fixed justice
and temporary additional police

peale museum at sunrise
(baltimore city became one of maryland’s confederation of counties, apart from baltimore county, with the maryland constitution of 1851 and is the largest independent city in the united states —the former peale museum on holliday street was being used as the city hall)

changed alleys

in apple liberty bottle dutch
argyle union brandy honey
happy whiskey sugar wagon
petticoat strawberry welcome
a struggle
for safe intimate space
working walking families
sheltering
intimate
tenacious communion
as a maelstrom gathered
hewn frames shaken blistered scoured in blasts sun and rain
in the eye of hatred and fear
powered by saturating stifling greed and ignorance
the settling storm
relentless
moved great hills of sand
swept away timber and cobbles
moving on so painfully slow
matched by the craton under small streets

strawberry alley at sunrise
(most alleys, like strawberry alley now dallas street, where poor working families lived in the 18th century, have been renamed or redeveloped)

colegium baltimorense in usum feminatum

a thorough, practical, accomplished and christian education,
fit the pupil for the faithful discharge of the responsible duties that await her
in life.
under an able and energetic faculty
an able body of teachers is thus being reared up.
while infants pray and oppressed rage and poets burn and prophets fade and fountains murmur and sons die and churches mold
in the half-life of superstition

saratoga at sunrise
(the female college of baltimore was established in 1849 on saint paul street and defunded in 1890)

tolling still

the loneliness of a wild haven
surrounded by dark rocks and towering trees
an eden
in the labyrinth of water images of the future glisten unhidden
forever changing dells of poplar
in an ancient valley of unrest
a settling town in a sea of time-eaten towers
buried hopes among the green slopes
with glorious golden banners and echoing throngs
silence interludes obscure and lonely
amid mountains silting into oceans
an eldorado by that infinity
destined for the sounding sea

gavesite at sunrise
(edgar allan poe died in baltimore and was buried in a presbyterian graveyard at fayette and greene streets in 1849)

49ers

they would fly clouds ride comets
cross witches transit celestial
swim with sword fish challenge oceans around so called america
in long running ships with massive sail
they would climb through agricola alpes apenninus archimedes
carpatus caucasus cordillera
haemus harbinger
jura
pyrenaeus
recti riphaeus rook
secchi spitzbergen
taurus teneriffe.
boldly they would ride into al-qahira ares auqakuh
bahram
dao
harmakhis her-desher hrad huo-hsing
kasei
labou
ma’adim maja maders mangala marikh marte mawrth
nanedi nirgal
reull
shalbatana simud
tiu.
they would seek for eldorado

sugar plant at sunrise
(many clippers designed and built in baltimore sailed around cape horn carrying fortune seekers in the mid-19th century)

unwanting

woolfolk slatter donovan purvis campbell harker denning
wilson hines fairbanks kephart anderson accinelly,
chained cargo to walk or be hauled down pratt in the middle of the night
to ships agent architect hyperion general pinckney intelligence kirkwood tippecanoe and victorine
and new orleans
uncounted sons or daughters or sisters or brothers or fathers or mothers or lovers.
penned
shackled
sweltered
frozen
drenched
whipped
auctioned.
cash for seamstresses
small fancy girls
fellows
hands
highest prices
always buying.
here is the short list to find our lost soul
adjustment amends atonement
compensation
damages
expiation
indemnification indemnity
punishment
quittance
recompense recoupment redress refund reimbursement remuneration repayment reprisal requital restitution retaliation
satisfaction settlement

west pratt street at sunrise
(several large slave-traders operated from locations around pratt street in the mid-19th century)

inbreeding the clipper

an osprey appeared in the mist
a falling meteorite into the harbor
almost unseen.
another soared twisting turning
outmaneuvering five crows giving chase.
a third skimmed to me
and became a beetle as it landed on my hand
large pincers for piercing fruit
eyes blood red and large for walking in dark shadows
serrated fangs for injecting venom
long antennae curled into smoke
reaching in my nose and oozing out my ears.
i put it in my mouth chewed and swallowed
so my children leave faint traces of its indigo exoskeleton
with each footstep

from swann park at sunrise
(designs adapted from the baltimore clipper were used to build slave-trade ships in the mid-19th century)