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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Been a While – Reconfiguration

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  It’s been a while since my last post… A lot has happened… I got married… Bought a house out in the country… Even Started a side business making crafts out of recycled pallets and selling them at craft shows… Life is different now and I can’t wait to share it with you… I am […]

Unforgiving Places – Sky to Falling Sky

End of another Day – The Barn at Soergel Hollow – Evans City, PA

Time for me to get out of this unforgiving place…
Sun on my back and the wind blows on my face…
Time to run from the never ending pain…
Four hours till darkness and no sign of rain…

Under the full moon I quietly hug the end…
A law is to be broken and rules will bend…
Stars brightly shine from sky to falling sky…
Sobriety is low and the good memories high…

Windows cracked open to let in the warm breeze…
The ground settles down as the trees lose their leaves…
Distant train warning approaching with speed…
Another soul in back while the others take the lead…

How long must one wait to understand paradise…
The breeze through the trees is my only advice…
Heavens gates separate the mighty church and state…
When the trees lose their leaves we will understand fate…

Broken branches fall in the storm of our existence…
Life is of hardships and death is of resistance…
Mountain sides slide into the shaded valleys below…
A swamp simply sits while the great rivers flow…

To give is to practice empathy like planting a seed…
The poor become flowers while the rich nurture weeds…
Into the forest a mother chases her one and only son…
Only after death do the different function as one…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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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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Memories in Orange – Yellow and Blue

“Yellow Skeletons on Distant Blue” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Standing on the side of a mountain… Photograph of the trees…

Excuse me while I slip out the door…

Memories… Memories of another time…
Memories of my darkest hours… Days… Weeks… Years…

I have been to the end before… A land of perpetual night…
Even in the darkness we must strive to see the light…
Self inflicted pain hangs from an orange extension cord…
Surrounded by needles… Surrounded by rotting boards…

Fate is an excuse we blame when life has got us down…
Heaven is alternative to our souls rotting in the ground…
Experience is relative… Darkness is a state of mind…
Walk across the dirty water and you are who you’ll find…

Blood in the water… Muddy sewers mainline to nowhere…
Mind like a pantry… Shelves empty and the fridge is bare…
Alone in this nightmare because no one knows the lie…
If a junky dies in the city… Does anyone care if he cries…

Orange street light reminder of the places I have been…
When you fight a dragon choose a sword over a pen…
Frost falls on the minds of those who lay out in the cold…
Every one of us dreams about the rainbows promised gold…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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End of December – Preparing a New Year

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plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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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Tonight

“Accident in Primary” – My Pocket – A simple cell phone photo I apparently shot in my pocket… I liked it enough to use it… Unedited…

Tonight… The winter fog slowly settles on my sleepy street…
The only thing louder than my heartbeat
The sound of silence… Stifling…
Distant felines screeching and crying…

With a steady pace I cut through the fog…
Rain drops falling so I start to jog…
Through the puddles I feel the cold…
Dreaming of you gives me a warming soul…

Tonight… The clouds must be especially sleepy…
Purposely making the landscape look creepy…
Looking at the cold midnight sights…
Orange ambience of the urban street lights…

Tonights slight breeze smells of the snow…
Cutting through the rain showers so slow…
Cutting through the cold air…
And cutting sharply through my mind…

Urban life is really something special…
Wildlife… Those living the wild life…
Houses packed like books on a shelf…
Side by side… Like volumes in a series…

Each one is similar… Yet completely different…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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Winters Early Breath – New Companion

“Snowflakes on a Faded Sunflower” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

The cold breath of winter is on the horizon…
The first falling snowflakes hint and enlighten…
Daylight fades into a stellar frosty evening…
Moonlight on white snow, silently listening…

Footprints magically appear in the snow…
Another evening spent in the cold city glow…
Sitting on sidewalks of concrete and garbage…
Frosty minded reminder of life, lies and carnage

Winter is the season to let old ghosts go…
Nourish your seeds and watch how they grow…
Soon your young mind will stretch into a tall tree…
Grow up to the sky and let your dreams live free…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

“New Companion” – Wilkinsburg, PA – So I got a Corgi… Meet Cooper… He likes apples, antlers, and sniffing around orchards… I have dreamed about getting a dog for quite a few years… Yet only managed to accumulate kitties… I couldn’t be happier to welcome this guy into my life…

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Sunshine and Moonshine

“Autumn Splendor” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA

Moonshine… Evening rising… Sunshine falling…
Cold wind blows away the morning sun calling…
Alone with you… Together with a meadow lark…
Seasons slide away into the never ending dark…

Sunshine fleeting… Fog rising off the calm water…
Flashbacks to carefree days… Bud and sunshine blotter…
Steadfast we glide across mountains made of lime…
Aging is just the way we come to terms with time…

We will shine… Our reflections dance on the still lake…
Confidence is nurtured… Bread is what we break…
In the morning spiritual energy tends to rise and fall…
When the weather breaks we will answer natures call…

Nightfall resigns… Yet our spirits continue to rise…
We are limited to the earth… Birds rule the sky…
Our souls fly above the clouds and into outer space…
Some folks pray for peace… Others pray for grace…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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