I Am Staten Island

I am Staten Island
I continue forward in a slow glacial pace
I ache like the flu
I watch "I Love Lucy" to sustain
I am torn
Through
the miasma of an early dog walk
grilled cheese with garden peach tomato and dried mint
ice packs and Asta
opened face grilled avocado and monterey jack
nachos or pizza?
Top chef top chef top chef
garden peach tomato and sunflowers
oatibix and raspberries
...are about to go through the center of the sun

I am Staten Island
putting my feet in wet cement
with John and Lucy
did that throw my hip out
when they get here
...there's nothing but beer
crisp crisp crisps
shiny seated
worn at the knee
but not without charm
I am open to discussion
...I am priced to go
I am available for lunch and/or dinner invitations
just ask me
today
moderate
temperate temperature
yet hot
...irked
where is that damn tuna?
hmmmm?
Staten island?

I am Staten Island
I love fresh tomatoes
I love rock n roll
baking bread for the joker
(clowns to the left)
...kiss me hardy
Duse and Dunkin
donuts and dancing
delicious
delightful
...to mirth
to merriment
to manslaughter
tonight
whatever has to be done will get done
like entomology
naked mole rats
mammal termites
...your mother always wonders
all through the night
all through the day
full heart
empty heart
...sad sad
butterflies flutter
all through your life

I am Staten island
give me a kiss to build a dream on
falling leaves of sycamore
dancing in the moonbeam afterglow
strangers on a boat
...one day
tonight
and every night
rising up in prismatic glory
hep cat nuns in green and gold
...sail by on oyster shell Vespas
puffing puffing
summertime in man's country
van duzer days and clay pit nights
party on the outerbridge
with black and yellow swallowtails
take me to Pier 76 for pizza and beer
or a creamy korma at Dosa Garden
don't forget
this is still Hymietown damn it
...we are Jews
we eat

I am Staten Island
I carry on relentlessly
Emirac Ipecac
ply me with a smile and you'll get more than you bargained for
i pray for the phone to ring
...an invitation
for lunch
for bridge
for a chance
in the primetene mists of my mind
full moon in four hours
werewolf alert
bite my neck
shake me like a ragdoll
...viscera exploding
bend me
shape me anyway you want
I am yours
I am Staten Island
shuffling along en masse
a giant formless amoeba
an enormous toxic algae bloom
shuffling
...yammerimg
shuffling
a line dance of oblivion
Seventh Seal on the 7:30
should I start collecting these for a book
or weave them all into a massive epic poem
to be handed out to ten people passing by the old site
of Max's Luncheonette
...dare I order a cherry lime rickey?
syrupy sweet on a warm Wednesday night in July?
Am I Staten island?
I rise fast
I am bigger and greener than you think
an evening stroll to Tappen Park
lighting up
...lighting out
remember the piers
on a hot summer night
or in the early morning hours
post-Hallowe'en
bumming a ride on the Clearwater
shivering but content
3AM
no cake
not even a cookie
without sweets life is meaningless
...life is cake
cake is life
I shall give your animals
bestiary communion!
CHEAP!
the natives believe coconut shells ward away the snakes
wet lips and lam'e hips
shake and bake
swivel and slip
up we go
and down we go
mal de mer on the Andrew Barbieri
I am green
flat bust broke and down at the heels
tough scruff
come join me
movies in bed
...bring a case of beer
and a bag of chips
or
let's count the different butterflies
dancing
gamboling
a pirouette of flight
is lovely
and cheap
I am Staten Island