Category: housing

hellrule

a soul is untouched unknown
just beyond the vast universe of space
in each synapse
edgeplace peerover lookinto
glorious light
clearly unpoisoned

abandoned houses at sunrise
(in 1987 the centers for disease control and the american academy of pediatrics called for removal of all lead-based paint from housing–the accepted safe level of lead in blood continued to be lowered)

1984more

the arcing sun shines on dolphin sized patapsco koi
ship sized boulders arrange around the harbor under giant oaks
arabbers walk next to carts loaded with blueberries
chard cabbage celery onions spinach beets radishes eggplant artichokes red peppers rhubarb bananas strawberries grapefruit kumquats clementines lemons star fruit
walnuts almonds quinoa
tall gleaming glass marble buildings teem with laboratories of good
birds soar and dart like so many bees and butterflies in a country garden
great dogs manage cadres of brushed sheep and shimmering horses
people in flowers jewels gowns stroll comfortably
privatepublic ships come into the harbor gracefully

harbor court at sunrise
(in 1984 the city donated land to a billionaire developer to build harbor court on light street)

fully lighted with fires

benjamin franklin butler camps in the warrens under federal hill
each day slowly in full uniform walks to the artillery
fires a shot into the heart of our city
our soldiers die east west southeast southwest
we have not surrendered
have not been destroyed
until we lift overhead our swords
then humbly lay them down
he pummels us like slowly dripping water

urban revelopment at sunrise
(a 1983 a civil rights commission assessment of city economic development recommended greater effort to foster black businesses, more equitable commercial lending, increased city contracting with black businesses, increased access to technical and management training for black community members, more aggressive corporate affirmative action, more relevant job training for unemployed community members, and immediate and concerted action to reduce unemployment—the mayor’s office responded that it was false to assume “that a government like ours bears sole responsibility for producing results”)

landmayorcouncils

we had rats herding roaches
as we walked behind
west onto odonnell the rats saw a captains ghost and some turned back
the roaches were jumpy arthritic
couldn’t walk without limping
south of patterson the rats felt thunder around behind and more peeled away
the roaches were twitchy sneezing
couldn’t walk without staggering
crossing pratt the rats heard a funeral train whistle and most ran off
the roaches were spitting shitting peeled paint
couldn’t walk anymore
we scooped the roaches into jars and finished our walk
the mayor said he loved catching fireflies we should play more ball
the director said those are baltimore water bugs not the biting kind
so we hauled out broken floorboards and toilets and plaster and mud
and made them dance around the room until the council began to sing
magicheroics in uncitytoo

odonnell street at sunrise
(the baltimore welfare rights organization and residents annie rogers, rosaline lundsford, and others carried out a rent strike in 1978 to get long overdue maintenance for housing)

not building one-piece

working in boilers belts furnaces smelters stampers
radical atoms
sweating out working through
until electricity whines
grunching louder minute by minute days weeks months
working where
why know-why
surfacing over deepwater and flats sounding mosquito-like
around missing floating city
fishing away compression pain
mind access
radio signals eternity

warehouse parking lot at sunrise
(the american standard plumbing manufacturing plant in canton closed in 1972)

beating brow

blue painted steel after night sky
gravity focused
dull brown brick in pink light
sharing load
orange stripes
tertiary painting
last of white street light
stored electrons
fundamental simple
means dignity justice voice

steel bridge at sunrise
(members of the welfare rights coalition camped out at department of social service headquarters in 1969 until the agency agreed to responsibly meet demands addressing basic human rights)

radio message to silk stockings

large shattering glass windows
rage coming up the road
coursing action
shockwaves
human lithosphere elastic
subsiding in eerie melody of alarms
then sunlit bayonets
faultlines recharging

gay street at sunrise
(several days of unrest resulting in twelve million dollars of property damage in 1968 first started in the four hundred block of gay street two days after martin luther king jr. was murdered)

drylands in rainfall

all who wish walk here
listen and say
arms lock sweat lift
path unseen waiting earth
touch stones smell tubers watch burrows and webs
hail paths crossing
continuing together

homes at sunrise
(in 1967 bonnie ellis, shirley pryor, and lousie alston helped establish the lafayette-douglass food buying club)

polite explosion

was it new light
absent shadows
bold lines emerging contrast
absorbing and radiating strength
or universe in random beauty

brooklyn homes at sunrise
(marian johnson, and several other families, endured racist intimidation throughout 1967 integrating brooklyn homes in south baltimore, and endured)

things and charity

in a hall of heroes who died in vain
the loyal knew well the spoils of faith
a cardinals call rang out and up
measured
echoing
falling like ash from a smokestack
then billowed back up
pouring out behind the council
and down the wide back stairs
a chorus of misled greed and hate
in awful polyphony with the rich father of mercy

war memorial at sunrise
(in 1966 at a city council meeting at the war memorial, hundreds and hundreds of the two thousand citizens attending booed cardinal sheehan’s advocacy for open housing legislation—which was, for the third time in three years, voted down by the council)