February 2, 2017 by C.Condello

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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January 18, 2015 by C.Condello

Kicking Down Doors

“January Ice” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

When one door closes… Kick that mother fucker to the ground…
A mind is a terrible thing to hide behind a crown…
Dreaming minds define… Faded memories and signs…
Heat waves rise to distort the double street lines…

Abandoned houses in waiting against a blood red sky…
An evening of dreams lost when the mourning doves cry…
Under blue skies… Under the dust clouds calling…
Even an evil man cries to God when he’s falling…

Motivation is relative… Reincarnation a daily occurrence…
Hell is the most powerful of the man made deterrents…
Justice is a fallacy… Recovery is a monetary system…
Criminal is what they call it when we attempt to resist them…

Stand tall and prepare to defend the beliefs you find right…
Nothing in the world changes without a peaceful fight…
Heaven is in your mind… The sweet flesh beneath a rind…
We all cry to our own God when life has us in a bind…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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December 22, 2014 by C.Condello

13 1/2 – Another Star Falls

“Sunshine and the Solstice” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – The first glimmer of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day… Winter Solstice… It wont be long now before Spring awakens…

This has been sitting in my notebook for a few weeks now… I revisit it every few days… I considered not publishing it due to language concerns… But the more I read it… Well… The more I like it…

Another star falls…
Falls from the flag and crashes into the earth…
Missouri burning… Misery ends with a peaceful ideas birth…

Before we can think we take off and run…
Just us… The cops… God and a gun…
Under a blood-red sky we bolt to the east…
Anyone who runs is considered a beast…

We are all thought of as the general public…
One god… One judge… Twelve jurors… Fuck it…
We are all considered public enemy number one…
Freedom is relative… Freedoms price is a gun…

Another man falls…
Falls from the throne and crashes into the streets…
Missouri’s heart is beating… Misery ends in mental defeat…

Riot in the city against the military machine…
Soon a tax-funded rain will scrub the streets clean…
Riots or looting… It doesn’t matter what you call it…
The only thing that matters is if you vote with your wallet…

Keep your nose clean… Keep your mind wide open…
Keep away from those who never stop coping…
13 1/2… That’s one judge… Twelve members of the jury…
And the half percent chance of walking free without a worry…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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November 15, 2013 by C.Condello

Individuality – Make Your Own Way

“SOLO – Almost Floating” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Sculpture of stone… Free standing cairn…
~
A gift to the stream…

The day of the individual has come and gone…
Now were programmed to be corporate pawns…
We will work until were blind dumb or dead…
Fighting for crumbs while the big wigs break bread…

There will always be someone just a little bit cheaper…
Computers replace man like the fucking grim reaper…
A corporate soldier that’s been assigned a code…
So the company can determine your financial load…

This is not a world where I could coexist…
I’m too much of a shit that just wants to resist…
I ask too many questions and look for blame…
At minimum wage we are one and the same…

Resistance is futile and our futures are bleak…
The only hope is the independence we seek…
Depending on nature is depending on your self…
Not paying the standard rate for food off the shelf…

Stand up for your most basic of human rights…
Food in the cupboard and children’s night lights…
Anything extra is for the corporate class…
Lack of food is one way they own your ass…

Pay a living wage to make sure we get to work…
Eat with your hands because a fork is a perk…
Subsistence pay is a form of human slavery…
But in the corporate world it’s a sign of bravery…

College degrees in hand like the soldier boy…
Sent out across the land like the generals toy…
Don’t be another fool or a disposable tool…
Our lives depend on principles that each of us rule…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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August 15, 2013 by C.Condello

Probable Cause

“Scattered Pieces” – © chriscondello 2013 – Taylor Way – Wilkinsburg, PA

Looking for two black males…
Clothing description… Black on black…
What you don’t realize is…
This gives them permission to give everyone in my neighborhood slack…

Probable cause has flaws…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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August 15, 2013 by C.Condello

The Other Side of the Noose

“Self Portrait” – © chriscondello 2013 – Conceptual Composition – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA – Alley puddle… Mud… Food Coloring… And my reflection…

It’s 2 AM and sleep eludes me… Honestly… I don’t know how I ever sleep… I have gone 7 days without sleep or food… I’ve gone months without real rest… Shit… I’ve gone years without rest… The only difference now is the absence of opiates… I still can’t seem to shake the baggage…

Damn people… I’m really struggling…
Ups and downs like I’m constantly juggling…
The moment I stand I’m torn to the ground…
You chop me down without making a sound…

Five hundred and sixty five days clean…
Still not sure what they meant by serene…
I wish that I could unload these bags…
Even if it’s just my shitty used rags…

A hundred dollar camera… Decade old computer…
Tough to add value when you were just a junky user…
Resumes a joke… All my teeth are broke…
Writing this makes me want to cry and choke…

I need to find a place that I fit in…
A place where they will see past my grin…
A place where I can feel accepted…
Instead of feeling repeatedly rejected…

Until then… I’ll cover up with my hood…
Trying to find a medium that will be understood…
Took some time to look into school…
Met with roadblocks because I’m a felonious fool…

Someday I hope to find a way to make a dollar…
In industries dominated by brilliant fucking scholars…
Photography… Writing… Artistic behavior…
Doesn’t mean a thing unless your the lord our savior…

How can I compete against a CMU degree?..

I can’t…

I have to constantly remind myself I’ll be ok…
Suicide is not an option… I’d rather pray…
Pray to a god that doesn’t give a fuck about me…
Laughing at the broke guy writing about trees…

Empty wallet… Empty life… Another fucking joke…
Talking to plants… Perpetually broke…
What I lack in money… I make up in heart…
Praying for daylight… Another fresh start…

It doesn’t matter… I’ll just fuck it up…
Fill it up then spill the cup…
You make me painfully aware I have no value…
A sentiment that I was already aware…

I need to find my place on this earth…
A simple attempt to rationalize my birth…
I mean… You untied the noose around my neck…
I was happily dead during the Emergency check…

Why the fuck didn’t you leave me hang?..
Instead I’m here as a broken ass man…
I have the tracts to prove my stupid move…
Ten years spent in the heroin groove…

Try to get a job with that reference…

So tomorrow… I’ll take my cheap ass camera to work…
Till the earth with my broken pitch fork…
Dreaming… Believing my life will work out…
Believing there’s a reason I didn’t check out…

There has to be a place for me… I’m just not sure where to find it… Or… If it will find me…

Until then… I’ll keep on keeping on…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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May 6, 2013 by C.Condello

Political Outreach

“Watcher” – © chriscondello 2013 – Natural sculpture of Stone – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Created with the scattered stones around me… Solidly stacked and off the beaten path… This sculpture will last a long time…

Fiery breath of God wipes the desert clean…
Eliminate the pestilence… Destroy the serene…
God does not speak English… Bombs don’t preach…
The only thing that matters is the curriculum we teach…

Whoever has the youth… Has the future…
Whoever breeds the most… Has the future…
Whoever kills the most… Has the future…
Whoever builds the biggest pipeline… Destroys our future…

How am I supposed to pretend… How do I deny…
Everything in politics is a big fucking lie…
I hate the commercials… Hate the constant knocks…
Personally… I vote based on the size of their cocks…

You laugh… But it’s just as relevant as what’s on tv…
Sit on the toilet and listen to your pee…
Splash into the voting pool…

Pool… Really… That’s all I am to you…
Of course that’s all I am…

To you…

A vote…
A record…

Well… A criminal record…

So… To the politicians… I say… Fuck you…

You don’t deserve my vote…
You don’t deserve my time…
You really don’t deserve…
My carefully worded rhyme…

But today you got it…
And as quickly as I wrote this rhyme about you…
I will forget you…

Today at work I am removing ivy…
Invasive… Like politics…

Ivy needs to stay the fuck out my yard…
Like politics need to stay the fuck out my house…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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