Category: infrastructure

brown to bright

sun light thru simple path
objectively condensing
immersing in salty nitrogen oxide smog
soaring intrinsic rainbows
living cells absorb and illuminate
radiating color buzzing art and industry
saturating dull forgotten fields
in slow steady streaking detox

brownfield at sunrise
(in 1995 twelve sites on the fairfield peninsula were reclassified from superfund sites to brownfields, creating an opportunity for redevelopment grants the city never managed to use to transform its long history of abusive jurisdiction—as it now fails to seize the opportunity to use brownfields and, in cooperation with the port administration, collocated port facilities to provide clean, sustainable, just power to the entire state of maryland)

tunnelhinge

one of our universi
is a green paper diamond
top and bottom hemmed to each other
vertically pleated in light tapestry
folded upon itself
face creased
spine gently bent
as we nestle in larvae gut
another imaginal disc
is just barely scraped by fort mchenry tunnel–
on solsti pass through going fiftynine or ninetyfive holding your breath
think only justice and peace
you will travel light years or more
toward antennae of love in many worlds–
and back again

tunnel p;ortal after sunrise
(the fort mchenry tunnel opened for traffic and timetravel in 1985)

wire song

words in rhythm of armies assembled with spears and shields from rowed sailing ships
feint through vast spaces in atoms near those sitting outside on starry nights
psalms in antiphony of dazzling light decaying shadows in canon
reverberate rising gliding down carved stone and glass
stories in passion aria duet trio ensemble
infuse in wax and waves of radio
buzzing chaotic humanity
planetstrapencoded
voices sounds
explode

point breeze at sunrise
(in 1984 the western union baltimore works on broening parkway at point breeze, where transoceanic cables and other telecommunications components were manufactured, closed)

drawing out somewhere

cloud pillars etch lines around tired city faces
shadows push away from bright lights
moses uturns
myth hopelessly lost
pouring concrete into river of life
chariots heave gravel and sand
dry waters muddy land divide
children wall around pursuing encircles
sea becomes tarmac
aggregate of souls cast aside
and souls rotting iron in acid rain
flowing eddying promised hatred
some walk on utterly confused
moses, take the free way to egypt
command love and peace

uninterstate at sunrise
(I-170 was cancelled in 1981: I-595 was cancelled in 1983; route 40 continues to spread apart west baltimore)

counter-current realty

fields of ore
slowly rain down coked solar fire updraft
roaring chamber explosion music
softening
exhaling
pooling separate
bleeding trickle into veins
tendriling opiate through biomass
automatrons harvest
feeding engineerimmortal dreams

former steel mill at sunrise
(the 32-story l-blast furnace at sparrows point started operating in 1975—and was demolished in 2015)

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)