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)

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)

here and there this and that

facebanging newly opened rose
deep convicted luminous
echoing color
petals brown loam
green blackening sepals leaflitter
dried fruits wingsown gutfermented
earthnectar dispersing shimmering sungrains
ephemeraternal beauty
tinkling symphony in roomsoul
justice came near
stay my love

catholic worker house at sunrise
(mary moylan returned from the underground in 1979, with the help of viva house, which, since 1968, shares love and community in sowebo from 26 south mount street)

in the basis of data available

voices in lines of chairs in a hall
marching steps through a street
signs in a square
electron magnetic moments
disorient and fade in random city
wanting electricity
sustained and renewed
in extradimensional grid of passion

high school at sunrise
(in 1974 many patterson high students and parents protested for the school to remain comprehensive, rather than become a construction trade magnet)

cry against it

city surrounding swelters
mortar dissolving into sand
forests invade with worms
growing and burning in season
one great endless vessel
emerges from evaporating rain
words oscillate
but only fiery emptiness
makes peace

cemetary with playground at sunrise
(jonah house was established in west baltimore in 1973 and is now resourced on moreland avenue)

anisotropy

herstory swirls spirals twists
plasma oscillating
restoring force
dark energy matter

free clinic at sunrise
(the womens union formed in 1972, resourced from the peoples free medical clinic on greenmount avenue and partly inspired by women: a journal of liberation)

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)