protest – Page 9 – sunrise in a small city

pardon my mob

traders and jobbers and lawyers and cronies
who speculate and siphon
such fellows are not my fellow citizens

calvert and lexington at sunrise — (in 1835 baltimore citizens protested fraud associated with the failure of the bank of maryland by destroying property of those responsible for the fraud)

liberty of the federal republican

silence is treason
and axes, hooks, and other instruments of destruction
have their own noise.
democracy sings
and beating, stabbing, and hot wax
discharge neuromuscular tension.
demagogues gluttons subalterns
trump distinction.
general stricker is not at home, cannot be seen, would do no more

on gay street at sunrise — (in 1812 the federal republican newspaper was destroyed for publishing anti-war commentary)

body snatchers

sanctuary for cadavers collected
from fresh graves and murdered sailors,
for imported mummies,
for cryosectioning and magnetic resonance imaging
of atoms now scattered in the streets
more elegantly than confetti

medical college at sunrise — (the university of maryland medical college was established in 1807)

commodore barney and hobart brown

a boatswains pipe called
to make sail and take them in again.
four horses pulled it in step
on front of the parading crews,
then the tiny federalist sailed.
to warmest expressions of ingenuity

kinetic sculptures — (maryland’s ratification of the federal constitution in 1788 was celebrated on philpot’s hill, which was subsequently renamed federal hill)