Litany for a Better Baltimore
You are the Angel on every corner
the last choir
life’s deliverer and death’s powdery hand
You are the Man in the Mirror
the jittery birds calling on the fence
You are the breeze that blows in every season
catching up what’s left
startling the school boys
whispering
whistling at nothing
You are for better or worse, more or less home
but you are not the sum of this earthly calculus
You are not the welcome mat on the stoop
or even the raven come back to roost
And you are certainly not the hard shells
and claws of the summer’s feast
picked clean and put out
with yesterday’s news
It is possible that you are the gun and the knife
most days you are the gun and the knife
Some days you are also the needle
Other days you are the wild clump of black-eyed susans
the yellow-topped coddie on crackers
the unexpected cornflowers
in bloom
on the vacant lot
But even on the best days you are not the faded slogan
on the bus stop bench – there is no way you are the faded slogan
on the bus stop bench
And a quick look in the rearview will show
you are neither the empty shoes dangling from the wire
nor the fraying teddy bear at the base of the street lamp
It might interest you to know
since we’re trying to keep it real
that I am what makes this city tick
I also happen to be what’s growing in the green space
the single point of light shining in the dark alley
and the check you can take all the way to the bank
I am also the hope that faces forward
the sure thing
the safe bet
the sound investment
But don’t worry, I am not the wild clump of black-eyed susans
You are still the wild clump of black-eyed susans –
I need you to be the wild clump of black-eyed susans,
not to mention the unexpected cornflowers – heads up, electric blue,
fearless in the white sun
Poet Laureate of the U.S.(2001- 2003) Billy Collins inspired this take on his poem entitled Litany, where “you” is Baltimore and “I” is a Caroline Center graduate. Additional inspiration came from Michael Jackson’s amazing “Man in the Mirror” and from Claire Hartman’s poems in What It Takes – poetry that resonates the collective voice of Caroline Center women and their stories of positive change.
Caroline Center starts this New Year in a remarkable state of grace – by being able to offer its tuition-free program to women at a second site in West Baltimore. In making this commitment to Baltimore, we remain confident that the best way to build a better city begins with women, with access to excellent education and career training, and with sustainable work with opportunities for advancement.
