May 7
Seven months in New York
Like a marooned sailor
Like Richard Burton
The Nile explorer
On the beach in Trieste
Ships sailing away on the Adriatic
Burton going nowhere
Like me.

But
Today I stand on

A Wall Street Wharf
Not a hint of winter on the river
Spring
75
Sunny
I am
Catching the 12:17
To Rockaway.
Not many passengers aboard.
The ferry pulls out
Into the East River
On time.
12:17
Diesel engines reverse on the slack tide.

Full speed ahead
Past the tip of Battery Park
Across the Inner Harbor
Past the Statue of Liberty
Coasting between Brooklyn
And Staten Island
Under the Vertanzano Bridge
Into the Outer Harbor.
Calm waters
Barely a ripple.
Escape
Full speed ahead.

To the south
Between Breezy Point and Sandy Hook
The open ocean
The Atlantic spanning the horizon
Almost rising as a cliff
At the end of the world.
Calling me
Calling my blood
A siren song in my marrow. My family once sailors and whalers
Now landlubbers
I fell the pull
Down to the sea. Full speed ahead.

The ferry turns away from the ocean.
Into Jamaica Channel
Calm water
No escape.

Only one person on the beach
A few boaters fishing the tide.
Beneath the Gil Hodges Bridge.

My soul sings an ancient sea song.
The words lost three generations ago
My soul hums the shanty melody
We are meeting an old friend.

Not seen in seven months.
The Atlantic.

The captain slows the ferry
Docks without a bump
Smooth waters
Two score passengers off load
Some walk to the beach
I catch a bus to Riis Park
The nude beach.

Few people on the beach
I
Lie
Naked on the sand
The sun on my skin.

An ocean breeze off the shore break
Filling my lungs with longing
To be one with the sea
To float beyond the waves
To drift toward Montauk
Maine
Gaspe
Like someone from the Titanic
Arctic bound.
I get up
Walk into the shallow eddies
The sea North Atlantic cold

Waves
The music of the ocean
So good to hear
Rockaway Beach
The Ramones loved it here.
The Atlantic calls
From all points of eternity.

Seven months since my last swim In this sea
At this beach
Late October
Here
I strip nekkid
Stride into the sea.
Up to my ankles
Up to my knees
Up to my thighs
Brrrr
A wave licks at my groin
XXX cold.
The Atlantic wants me
Mermaid sirens sing
Be one on the current
Is the call of the wild.

I go no farther.
A man.
Alone is no match for the sea.
Even if your blood comes from the sea
A landlubber I be
For today
Tomorrow maybe not
The sea was is will always be there
Full speed ahead.