concerning crimes and punishments

in a labor-scarce economy
for violations upon the lives, liberties or property, of others
in response to public outrage at the spectacle of convicts laboring on roads
solitary confinement, common silence, and hard labor.
operated profitably

penitentiary at sunrise
(in 1804 the baltimore penitentiary was erected on madison street for confinement and labor as an alternative to public and degrading punishment)

risingest town

warehouses around the water
tobacco and snuff
wheat and corn and flour and bread
sugar and rum
iron
paper and wool
oak and poplar and mahogany and spruce
tar and turpentine
orange juice and coconuts
rice and cotton
fish and furs and skins
pork and beef and butter and cheese
beeswax and candles
nails and boots and assembling ships.
baltimore bricks

warehouse at sunrise
(in 1799 almost 200 warehouses were clustered around the harbor)

oration upon the moral and political evil of getting it wrong twice

we knew.
to deprive a person to rob their soul
to dwindle into insignificance to eternal infamy
apostates to principal
pursuing destruction propagating vice
rearing youth in habits of cruelty
base collective despotism in unison
citizens as tyrants ignorant of impunity
to be hurled amidst the elements of woe
why do we not step forward eternal will be the disgrace.
perhaps we are merely catalysts for the transfer of heat
from the core to the void.
genocide, enslavement
anthrocide

coal at sunrise
(dr. george buchanan addressed the maryland anti-slavery society in 1791)

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)

zhujiang and patapsco

the eagle and dragon will become each other
only as snake and skunk
horse and hedgehog
goat and rabbit
monkey and moose
rooster and reindeer
dog and deer
pig and puma
rat and squirrel
ox and otter
tiger and wolf.
prosper

seagirt at sunrise
(captain o’donnell first arrived in baltimore town with a cargo of tea, china, silk, and satins from canton in 1785)

in the land of land jobbers

in the expensive dirty muddy town
every prayer and petition for the kings majesty
was henceforth omitted.
thoughts turned to france.
small pox was precluded and five million dollars emitted.
they wondered whether the people would eat bread or drink whiskey.
royal portraits were hung upside down.
slaves and convicts worked
while idle sons lived like princes betting on horses, cocks and cards.
general washington
was provided with whatever he may want wherever he may be.
until our unhappy differences are ended

liberty at sunrise
(the continental congress met in baltimore for three months in 1776 and 1777 at a house on baltimore and liberty streets while philadelphia was under threat of british invasion)