calvert street – sunrise in a small city

now asleep

rhymes and love tokens
from sunny headed fields sweet air
into contagious fogs sailing on land
blood slowly dyed into purple
moon encased
purple evaporating and sifting into every other

trust and deposit vaults into theater at sunrise — *(chesapeake shakespeare company opened their theater on calvert street with a midsummer night’s dream in 2014)*

sampling discarding

not to leave world control
bothered by malignant truth
agents of a power exploding hoax

calvert and fayette at sunrise — (the house unamerican affairs committee persecuted progressives in baltimore in 1957 at the federal building at calvert and fayette streets)

thorny brambles chancewind swept
miles and miles of labyrinth
around pools seenandrumored
magic carpets flyingover
crash in tumblingscratchingskids
stopandfind the painachingsorryguiltymess
loudly contemplate
each footwoundpiercing step

administration building at sunrise — (baltimore polytechnic institute’s pre-engineering program was opened to 16 segregated students in 1952 after petitioning by the naacp and the urban league—poly was then at north avenue and calvert street)

not considering justice

the standard of a body
sons who played a noble part
in the desire to acquire additional territory,
cordial and intense shame

south from battle monument at sunrise — (baltimore citizens gathered at the battle monument to support the theft of land from fledgling mexico in 1846)

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)

flesh-eating stone

the lady
standing on the fascis column
doesn’t see the rising or the setting sun

battle monument at sunrise — (the battle monument was completed in 1822)

eyes of water

springs bubble unseen
headwaters in time
to hundreds of billions of gallons from all over.
pumping through

buried spring at sunrise — (the city spring and square constructed in 1810 near calvert and saratoga streets was a place for recreation and gathering)

to local determination

remove public nuisances
provide safety and health
sustain streets, harbor, sewers, and bridges
regulate markets
prevent and extinguish fires
impose fines penalties and taxes
with crudely arranged defective municipal reports.
perpetually

war memorial at sunrise — (baltimore town was incorporated as the city of baltimore in 1797)

charge bayonets

after battles won by hundreds for ensuing millions
panoramas from the green hills above town.
swept over by demi-tectonics

chase street at sunrise — (colonel howard’s mansion near calvert and chase streets was completed in 1794)

in steigers meadow

dispense justice
promote virtue
guarantee harmony
preserve the law
respect property and neighbors
replace ignorance and superstition with knowledge of right and wrong.
inspect flour
cull staves and shingles
measure grain
weigh hay and cord wood.
receive specified fees

courthouse at sunrise — (the baltimore county seat was moved from joppa to baltimore town in 1768 and a courthouse was commissioned to be built on a bluff overlooking jones falls)

Tag: calvert street