Category: music

heart open

shadows unspiraling unturning under
pink peach light blue mercy
seen smiling faithfully
each day new sky
friendly singing
scarves and kerchiefs spin infinitely
for she who must be saved

baltimore and calvert at sunrise
(gillis memorial christian community church deacon and choir singer hattie carroll was murdered by a tobacco land-owner from charles county at the emerson hotel on baltimore and calvert streets in 1963)

supervene

linger here dark embrace
take what love gives
pressed hands
welded
dyed
back and forth in golden shoes
dreams shadows

eutaw and fayette streets at sunrise
(performances at ford’s grand opera house on eutaw and fayette streets were picketed from 1947 until it desegregated in 1952—many artists and production companies boycotted the theater during that time)

some part of you down there

singing all over
deep rivers
no ways tired this far
day after day born
turning around you
in pleasure and grief
speak in red rising sun a few days more
fields of gold pure water
for never yes forever
bound to earth
explode in lightning

lyric at sunrise
(lyric music hall owners refused to have marian anderson perform there in 1953, but relented in 1954, to the joy of a sell-out audience)

can and will

once before
been the same
all about this thing
stare stopping victim
moments a lifetime
strange and simple
lost in a river
love is dark.
dark and blue

charles street at sunrise
(the swallows, formerly the oakeleers as teens in west baltimore—lawrence coxson, earl hurley, bunky mack, eddie rich, money Johnson, junior denby—performed at eddie leonmards spa musical bar on charles street in the late 1940s)

once in every

fire and flame
make me stronger
another chance again
still a lifetime
still i cry

pennsylvania avenue at sunrise
(the orioles, then the vibra-naires—sonny til, george nelson, alex sharp, johnny reed, lloyd gaither—and songwriter deborah chessler, all from west baltimore, began collaborating in 1948 and, according to many music historians, sparked the explosion of rock and roll after getting started on corners and in clubs on pennsylvania avenue)

aint it truth

short life shorter youth no other
chew mealy apples chased with gin
phones ringless in mud
begging for moments
haters lovers cash and carry
your innerfish sauteed in streamingsun and flowers
swallow wideyed at ringing bells
someone step out of rainbow
rocking
it could be you

pennsylvania at upton at sunrise
(private thomas broadus was murdered by officer edward bender in 1942 on pennsylvania avenue after a louis armstrong show–2,000 people later marched to annapolis to protest racist police brutality)

been ever since

turn on the faucet
rains here run to stormy sea
clouds walk by
streets whisper doomsday
towncity left alone
they dont come
blues about
hush now
dont quit me
long way to go

royal sunrse
(the douglass theater, later renamed the royal, opened in 1921 on pennsylvania avenue and lafayette street)

songs revenge

wishes follow footsteps
toward the binding sun
that owns souls every second all day
until evening melancholy music
walks unseen
alone without hope
bleeds in a dying dream that melts
like the last rose of summer
relieving every pain

lyric at sunrise
(the music hall, now called the lyric or the modell performing arts center, opened in 1895 on mount royal avenue with a boston symphony orchestra concert)