Community Outreach -The Public is the Number One Enemy

“Beauty and the Beast” – Wilkinsburg, PA

The following poem was written about one year ago… It was written during an event that occurred on my street in Wilkinsburg… This event was the ultimate reason my wife and I decided to move out of Wilkinsburg… CBS WTAE – The following poem is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Kelly Jr. – I do not believe he deserved to die… I think it is sad that 24 highly trained police officers could not subdue a drunk man with a knife…

I am scared… Scared of the community I live in…

Not for the crime… The thugs drugs or gangs…
Not for the fact that a black bandana hangs…
Off the face of a young man… Inner city common unity…
The colors of my neighborhood… A forgotten community…

I dream of death and destruction… I dream of violent scenes…
Gun shots and crack rocks are the subject of ghetto dreams…
Abandoned homes like leaning gravestones… Waiting to be sold…
Outnumbering the homeless who are sleeping in the cold…

I am scared of a thin blue line… Thugs with authority…
Thugs that hate the general public and are willing to kill a minority…
Urban blight is a product of officially shunning gumption……
The goal is to board up enough to dilute the real corruption…

We are all enemies of the state… We are on the wrong side of the line…
We all share in the fact that our lives are worth less than a k9…
The first amendment is a joke… We only have rights in silence…
To open your mouth is nothing more than an invite to violence…

Police station threshold is where the daily war begins…
Inside the temple the soldiers discuss their win… The war against us…
The war against the general public… Public enemy number one…
Your money paid for the bullet that killed you… It even paid for the gun…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

 

“Green Fields” – The Barn at Soergel Hollow – Evans City, PA – This photograph was taken the week my wife and I were watching our friends farm… It was also the week we decided to get married… Also the place where we got married…

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Residual Energy – Abandoned Hopes

Bright orange full moon… Summer evening… Month of June… Dreaming… Silently still cool air… Compliments the concrete… Beneath my bare feet… Warmth… Radiating energy… Memories… Whispers of the sunlight… Memories of the day… Residual heat in a thermal display… The air tonight is incredibly fresh… Gravel footsteps… Barking dogs… And the laughing of crazy ladies… The cry of the upstairs baby…

Sleep eludes me… Watching the moon… Watching the scavenging momma raccoon… Babies number three… Eight beady eyes… Digging for a garbage can surprise… This evening is too perfect to rest… Abandoned houses… Quiet… Secure… Make great neighbors… Quiet… For sure… Silence is relative… Beauty is what you see… Art is whatever the fuck the artist says it is… Expression of ones surroundings is paramount… Regardless of where you may be…

I see photographs from world travelers… Places I’ll never be… Sights I’ll never see… At least I’ll see it through your eyes… But for now I’ll stick to the ghetto sunrise… I’m happy here… I find inspiration here… I write this poem from the energy that was… It surrounds me… Abandoned homes… Abandoned dreams… The energy surrounding me practically screams… Heroin numbed me… But now I’m free… Awake to the energy… Constantly…

Cold grass contrasts the warm cement… Floating across a sea of green… Surrounded by cement… A constant feature… Impervious to rain… Feels no pain… But tonight it’s bleeding warmth… Energy from a beautiful day… A day we were both alive… Midnight… Cool air… Sounds of air conditioners… Sirens Blare… Beautiful silence… Police cars window light… Blinding in the night… Watching me in my pajamas… If only he knew… I was sharing this with you… Maybe he would just move on…

…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Last Week Of May – Effortless

“Effortless” – © chriscondello 2013 – Sculpture of Stone – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – I had a crowd this morning… From the bench they quietly cheered me on… They told me I made it look effortless… Hence the name…

“Settlement Pond No. 3” – © chriscondello 2013 – Sculpture of Stone – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Nine Mile Run begins its Frick Park journey by traveling through several man-made settlement ponds… The purpose of these ponds is to allow litter and pollution to sink to the bottom before being carried to the Monongahela River…

“Sewicide” – © chriscondello 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – I regularly see kids playing in this creek… I always see dogs swimming… I wouldn’t throw my enemies in this water… I build these sculptures because I understand… I understand that nature can not always watch out for itself… Sometimes… It needs a little help…

“Relic” – © chriscondello 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Built by a few neighborhood kids that have now moved to the beach… This teepee is a reminder to me that this park is making a comeback… I thought that someone would surely destroy this… But nope… Someone is maintaining it…

“Public Display” – © chriscondello 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Photo from the weekend… I found this Wild Geranium pretty early in the morning… The sun was not in the right place… So I waited for about 45 minutes until the sun was just perfect… As I was setting up my shot… This damn insect landed on the flower… Slowly turned its head toward me… And stared… As if I was the asshole… So I settled…

“Popular Opinion” – © chriscondello 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – I guess not everyone is a fan of peace… Or 100-year-old Victorian homes… Or art…

“Plant Petunias” – © chriscondello 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – When in Pittsburgh… Expect to see a bunch of petunia photographs this Summer…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License