Oh, Baltimore

by Jalynn Harris 

Praise the rockfish 

it's braille dotted coat swimming 

the harbor’s brackish spit pool.

Praise the long you

the slack tongue

which yearns for iron. Aaron’s every errand. 

Praise the lazy eye, 

winking prison ink. the Old Head shot into a chair, 

the wheels round clocks 

Praise the oriole and the raven, 

the blue jay and the fish crow crooning 

the deep forests of their song

Praise the urns 

planted as temples on his mother’s mantle 

The bright pinch of might’ve been. The swallowing vultures of grief.

Praise each arm linked 

in a chain. No Justice, no peace!

Marching like names out the metal gun.