wileys waltz

sliding on water
cutting into semiliquid
flying on unbonded ice
in the ferry channel by empty anchorages
over shoals
by thomas cove
past points lookout wagners leading stony rocky sandy
moss goose pond
whitehall bay
onto the severn
around the frozen hemisphere

sweating river at sunrise
(1893 was one of the years when winter ice covered the patapsco and much of the chesapeake bay)

union park

in a dirty dreary ramshackle place
muggsy uncle robbie ee-yah wee willie kingpin big dan
heinie steve frank boileryard
sadie bill kid bert count duke
stub old wax figger
bunt chop run sacrifice impede impose slug argue
in front over around and through
giants beaneaters phillies grooms spiders pirates and colts
kelly smells precisely every ball out in the high grass
but sits in the dugout panting

from center field at sunrise
(the baltimore orioles, the baseball dynasty of the 1890s, played at union park between 24th, 25th, hunter, and barclay streets)

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)

la bella en santuario

my love sails on the wind
before dawn
strides on sinewy calves and thighs
up hills in morning light
smiles bright compassion
around gathering people
reaches warmly with dark eyes
into those looking from the crowd
speaks with bold clear song
toward the settling sun

oheb shalom at sunrise
(temple oheb shalom dedicated the eutaw place temple in 1892 and used it until 1960—the baltimore hebrew, har sanai, and chizuk amuno congregations also built temples in west baltimore in the early 1890s)

on colgate creek

i met paul on the double track racer
sitting together
tick
tick
tick
tick
up so slow
to the apex
moonlight on water
water all below
free we fly
side by side
down in gravitys waterfall
faster than the other track.

i sail with the merchant marine
paul keeps order in a counting house
and covers the waterfront when i am at sea.
have the
wars and votes and villas and what.

not notorius ribald wild
we walk together in riverview
a band plays
eubie and noble and un maestro italiano
we are together on boardwalk benches
family

industrial creek at sunrise
(in 1890 riverview park, the first of half a dozen local amusement parks, opened for whites on point breeze on the shores of colgate creek and the patapsco, south of what is now broening highway—it closed in 1929—gwynn oak was the last to close, in 1973)

sunset path

perhaps
over the next crest
in another dell
around the hedge end
we will find ourselves together
speaking of pain and sweat and hunger and michelangelo
in a human register
next steps falling natural
as we plan our survival
alone cojoined

footpath at sunrise
(sunset path, connecting hillside and club roads, is one of many footpaths in roland park, which was developed by the roland park company starting in 1891, the first of several developments exclusively for white christians—a policy the company never altered before dissolving in 1959)

la aventura de cuba y maryland

in tropical light
the white
man
rode the burrow
from santiago hacia las sierra maestra
sobre el rio juragua
robo
hierro duro
de la tierra esponjos

on the semitropical marsh
tons of cold air exploded tons of molten iron
iron and carbon separating and rejoining
with blistered hands
charred faces
mangled arms
fractured skulls
into smooth hard slick steel

y en la selva humeda
on the broken tarmac
ruins
resignation
religion
immitation

brownfields at sunrise
(after buying mineral rights to ore deposits in cuba 1882, the pennsylvania steel company bought sparrows point in 1887 and started producing steel there in 1889)