Category: ships

weapons from somewhere in passing

from the quickly forgotten morning mist of small orchards
a deer and two black dogs walked out together
and on the edge of tarmac and weed lawn under a stray peach tree
laid down to die after a last meal of rotting fruit
their souls together becoming viscous clear to pale-yellow
dwelled in and haunted the tanks of alcolac and kromfax
and travelled across wide oceans
to rain down on towns and battlefields in mesopotamia and persia
torturing and killing the sons of a father
who would lift up a scimitar to cut off the head of brave merchants
undissuaded by fantastic stories of magic and retribution

chemical tanks at sunrise
(in 1987 a fairfield industrial chemical manufacturer began selling and shipping unheard of quantities of the main ingredient of mustard gas to criminals who sold it to iraq and iran who used it to kill thousands of soldiers and civilians)

mother and pride

as if you will take me back into you
i eat your food
let your love wash over me
skim flying between your light and dark
you welcome me as i left
floating between life and death
before i dissolve into you and eternity

clipper memorial at sunrise
(in 1986 nina schack, vincent lazzaro, barry duckworth, and armin elsaesser were lost at sea with the pride of baltimore, which first sailed in 1977)

shadecounter

a sailor returning
holds firm
ninety ways of smelling water
ripping into every meal
aortas veins feeding filtering
nerves ringing in wind
each day a space sealed and stowed
jet propelled through twisting time
on the rim of dim dark implosion
before memory stops

pier 3 at surnise
(the national aquarium opened as the baltimore aquarium in 1981 on pier 3)

floating compressed

precisely positioned stress
randomly self-assembled
sailing in sun
launching out dark
feeding on rusted green leaves
steeling into bright colors
swarming frenzied flight of logic

easy landing at sunrise
(the maryland academy of sciences moved to the inner harbor in 1976, becoming the maryland science center—kenneth snelson installed easy landing in 1977-78)

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)

vast classification and terminal

winchester cumberland wheeling cincinnati
lousiville saint louis effner chicago
south bend muskegon mackinaw city
detroit sandusky cleveland ashtabula
erie buffalo rochester sodus point wilkes-barre
stroudsburg new york haddonfield cape charlie
washington baltimore
industrial america

cargo pier at sunrise
(the maryland port authority acquired the general cargo facilities of the pennsylvania railroad on clinton street in canton in 1967)

who may die

live still love calling
under infernocloud mushrooming miles
cast out away in steel ropes
withering shrinking in flamestorm
abandoned inside ringing glimmering wandering fire
uncrossed
wouldbegod casts and disappears
inkgreenblack oily smoke
i suppose a heavy metal bird should scream

shipping terminal at sunrise
(in 1965 a nine alarm oil fire threatened residents of wagners point who struggled on under criminal neglect by the city until the late 1990s)