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…

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

Advertisement

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

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

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

In the Dark – Stay Outside and Play

“In the Dark” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

I am but a tiny being on this massive rock… I am a rock…
I am but an observant soul… Lost… Looking for a way to be found…
Looking for a way to ask for something I can’t define…
Looking for that elusive sign… Looking for myself…
Searching through the darkness…
Realizing I am of the darkness…

All is well… Everything is just peachy…
My lie of a smile denies you the real me…
Blue skies combined with yellow clouds in gray…
Evenings approach ushers in another orange day…
Another day of labor… Another day in the heat…
Another day I didn’t wave the white flag of defeat…

“Ninebark at Night” – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

I am a fighter… I am on the outside one-percent…
And I have no desire to come inside…
I have no desires because my addictions took them away…
Fingerprint ID and the mug shot to display…
That is why I garden… That is why I plant seeds…
That is why I consider you when figuring for my needs…

I am not equal to anyone… I am six-feet below you…
I am staring up at the ground looking for a new view…
Looking for a way to erase these horrid memories…
Looking for a way to find peace with my enemies…
Looking for a way to find peace with myself…
With my memories… With my past… With you…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

Shelter from the Storm

“Sunset through the Alder” – Keystone State Park – Westmoreland County, PA

Seeking shelter from the relentless rain…
Hiding my soul to alleviate the pain…
Salvation lies in the pure forest green…
Seeking silence… Seek the serene…

In the near distance… Audible from afar…
The sound of gravel under a creeping car…
Distant highways relentless thunder…
The sky is dark and turning under…

Gray clouds crumble… Light shows through…
Jet liners rumble obscured from view…
Train whistles blowing across the land…
My light is shining and always grand…

My flame is but a candle to the sun…
You and I together will burn as one…
Our minds combined can move the moon…
We sing off-key but we think in tune…

Clouds are about to clear the horizon…
Blue sky fades to the orange sun rising…
Morning is just a few moments away…
Together as one we take on this day…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

Reflections of the Past – Money or Freedom

“The First Rays of Sunlight” – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – Cairn of stacked stones on Nine Mile Run… I like building these stacks because they require me to zone out… To me… This is meditation… I can’t wait for it to warm up enough for me to return… Maybe then my positive poetry will again outnumber the negative…

The following poem contains a bit of vulgar language… If there is even a slight chance that will offend you… Move along… This poem is not for you…

We are reflections of those we have met in the past…
We are nothing more than mirrors…
We are love… We are hate…
We get classified based on our mental state…
Classification is the mark of the beast…
Governments say comply while they fucking feast…
Non-profits say give while they get retreats…
Take massive pay checks while volunteers clean the streets…
There has to be a better way than this…
Drug abuse is rampant the streets are filled with whores…
Bad people rule the world while the good people are poor…
People stand in line with signs fighting over church and state…
Border walls answer the call for someone to segregate…
Why do we let others choose our fate… Why do I…
Why can I not let my baggage go…
Why do I not feel worthy…
Why do I feel my past classifies me as worthless…
Because it does…
So fuck your classification system…
Fuck your records and your tools…
My life goal is to make the doubters look like complete and total fools…
I will make you tools because I have no other option…
History so bad the background check cautions…
So I’ll have to make my own way…
A green thumbed vagabond… You have no idea…
Look up fucked up that’s me in the encyclopedia…
Thank god for art… Thank god for poetry…
Thank god for the possibility of a god…
Thank god that we can be…
Anything we want to be…
As long as we pay taxes on our property…
Not to mention a flawless history…
The secret to anonymity is now but a mystery…
We are all marked… We stand in line…
Comply unconditionally or pay the fine…
Monetary loss or loss of freedom…
Then add-on charges if we try to impede them…
We are nothing more than products on the grocery store shelf…
We are products trained to work…
We work hard so more hard work is expected…
And then we work some more…
We work to afford these modern conveniences…
We have replaced life with labor…
Experience with degrees…
Reality with… Whatever you call this…
This joke we think is normal…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

Naked

“Running Exposure” – © chriscondello 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – 16 Second exposure… And 4 of my favorite spots in the garden… No edit…

Sitting Quietly… Waiting for this rain shower to pass…
Unwrapped and naked… Exposed to the world…
Exposed to you… My friend…
Exposed to the elements that fall from the blue…

Naked is nothing more than a frame of mind…
A state of well being… Being well…
Away from the constant social lies…
Awake to the light before our very own eyes…

Our souls are like the flame of a candle…
Flickering in the steady wind…
If you go out… I’ll spare my last match…
I’ll spare my last match…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

The Black Sheep

“Black Shroom” – © chriscondello 2013 – Keystone State Park, PA – I know… It’s not a black sheep… But it is a black mushroom… Guarding its pasture of moss… Waiting…

Green thumbed vagabond… I am the black sheep…
Writing this poem while the rest of the world sleeps…
No clue where I’m going… Only goals and dreams…
At one time my thoughts were nothing more than schemes…
I opened my mind… Opened my broken soul…
Told the gate keeper to go fuck his toll…
I’m completely prepared to storm the walls…
I’ll only stop when the empire falls…

Peace will one day be the law of the land…
Nature will be on the same level as man…
We will no longer harvest her organs and blood…
Stop trying to control the necessary floods…
When we talk about peace… We forget about the earth…
We are essentially at war with the place of our birth…
Actions on one land… Can affect the next…
A fact that leaves people completely perplexed…

I am a black sheep… I lay out my sin…
I have yet to find a place I feel I fit in…
Not smart enough for the non-profits… Prophets a joke…
If I had the authority… Their balls I’d revoke…
I don’t have a resume… That’s why I write this blog…
Hoping one day it will get me through the fog…
And give me a reason to live… Ground to stand…
Hold my head up high… Because I did something grand…

Maybe sell a few photos… Make a living from this work…
Finally see something that could be considered a perk…
I know that this black sheep is on the right grass…
Perfectly acceptant of my place in the lower class…
But not afraid of the call if it comes… They’ll find…
Upper middle class dreams in a poor mans mind…
But what this poor boy lacks in the girth of his fold…
I make up in spirit… Worth my weight in gold…

plant black petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

I have photographic prints available to purchase online… You can find them here – www.society6.com/chriscondello –  It is by no means a requirement… But it helps… If you have a few minutes to check them out… Please do…

LGBT + S = Human

“Red Flag” – © chriscondello 2013 – The Garden Table Urban Garden – Rebecca Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – We all bleed the same color… We all go to the bathroom the same way… And everyone appreciates a nice garden… We are all essentially the same… Made up of the same material… So we all deserve the same rights… And the same dreams… To deny them to anyone… Is a failure of the people…

I don’t think it’s fair… I can’t believe this is even a fight… To me this is a simple matter… Based in human rights…

People are simply people… We all struggle with something… LGBT… LMNOP… QRS… TUV… W… X… You… And Me!..

We are all the same… We deserve the same voice… I find it ridiculous… People still think its a choice…

That choice… Well… It’s really none of our fucking business…

When filling out papers… I refuse to choose my race… Put sexual preference on them… I’ll throw it in your face…

My questionnaire… It would be one question… Are you human?..

That’s all that matters… That’s all we should see… The only choice that means a thing… One that brings equality…

Equality to you… Equality to me… If we live in this country… We are technically free…

Straight christian marriage… Freedom is a joke… A sad and blatant sign… Our system is essentially broke…

But don’t you worry… That’s about to change… The fact that gays had different rights… Will one day seem strange…

Our kids will laugh… History books will stress… We had the wrong idea.. About this whole mess…

I have written about this before… One of my favorite posts… – https://chriscondello.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/gay-by-association/

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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

Restless Friday Night

“Morning” – © chriscondello 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – Guerrilla Garden between two abandoned houses on my street…

Hot and muggy night… First of June…
Sirens wail… And gunshots boom…
All the while police cars loom…
Urban sounds… In an urban room…

Peace is relative in my neighbor hood…
Unity makes a community good…
The higher ground is where we stood…
Silence is a statement that’s misunderstood…

Memories play on my mental display…
Helps me see what you call gray…
Up all night… Sleep all day…
Heaven doesn’t care when you pray…

Or who you pray to… A state of mind…
Look in your heart and you will find…
It doesn’t matter if everyone is kind…
Always move forward… Learn from rewind…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

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