Category: labor

both hands on trident

while i was gone
a pretty oily heavy metal unquenchable cruise
lost from calypso
drink the high thunderheads
swallow the strafing carpeting shrapnel walls of rain
cast away churning deep
under speed of sound winds southeast northwest
struggle to surface
to skyscraper higher billowing strike
in awful gloom
scatter

fairfield at sunrise
(in 1993 sea witch salvage began dismantling the uss coral sea and the uss illusive at a fairfield shipyard, and proceeded to endanger workers and dump asbestos, oil, scrap, paint chips, and other pollutants into the patapsco until sun reporters took notice in 1995)

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)

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”)

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)

re dei cavoli

i approach one hundred years
every breath aching deathfear
childhood voices roomshadows
uncompleted tasks waft and drip
raining pain with phantom.
I think of one gold banana on a mountain of green on pubbys truck
childlegs hoist and clamor
thrillingest fruit ever
ecstasy sweat satiate blood sweet oppression
sunsaliva oceanrainteeth fleshstomach
pubby screams testa di cavoli i flee
thieving
finally punished with burr in toe
pubbys evening silence.
or am I punished
or do millions die brutally
irrigare le banana

south locust point at sunrise
(in 1970 the port authority purchased south locust point facilities owned by b&o and operated by the united fruit company)

potash and fishmeal

mask wearers sweat in worsening cargo warehouse
taste feel smell hear see wealth
blowing to least resistance
brace lift carry turn choke
on fertilizer fantasy

ILA local office at sunrise
(two segregated international longshoremens association locals were forced by the federal government to merge in 1970)

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)

day without

thou shalt not believe in
victory dollar
victory vote
winning love
detached voice
common enemy
single-sourced fact
warstrategem
labelism
natural state nationarchy
killing

hospital at sunrise
(in 1969 local 1199 organized hospital and nursing home workers and negotiated for decent wages, good working conditions, job security, respect, and dignity with johns hopkins)