<

Shafer Hall

 

To Sail from Cold Spring Harbor

 

 

the last of the ships in 1862

returned to Cold Spring Harbor

 

when the hamlet’s whaling era

was over Jones died and Jones

four years later by then

long voyages were hurting

ports like Cold Spring Harbor

 

the Sheffield by 1852

the company owned

the largest vessel

to sail from Cold Spring Harbor

 

the vessels and insurance

contacted Manhattan

to manage the agents

of Jones and Jones

and their partners in Cold Spring Harbor

 

the burgeoning 1830s

bought the old bark Monmouth

brought whalebone and oil

and candles to Cold Spring Harbor

 

Jones and Jones

were family the first

to come ambitious

to Cold Spring Harbor

 

 

For more information

contact The Whaling Museum:

Main St., PO Box 25, 11724

New York, Cold Spring Harbor

 

 

 


The Dray Man & His Dray Horse Draw the Bulk Away

 

 

Dray the man

dray the horse

dray the bulk

that’s drawn away.

 

The bulk that’s

drawn and drained

away.  The horse

that loved the gray.

 

This is a history:

the schooner ripped

me (I am a sail) I

haul a cart.  No sides.

 

(No arms.) The dray

horse has no arms.

I have lost my arms.

The wind dragged

 

them away.  A gray

bulk drags a gray

horse away.  A dead

horse, a gray hulk

 

and a man to drag

it all away.   Bulk

to wrap in a torn

sail and draw away.

 

 

 


Arbor Vitae

 

 

In France and around the world

there are gardens and forests

that have been alive for years.

 

Redwood trees live for lifespans

building highways as tall as maps

and all you are is a garden.

 

All you are is a project.  All you

are is a hobby.  All you are is a

a trellis-and-vine is all you are.

 

There are miracles that grow on

photosynthesis, eating sun like

someone else’s daughter.  Just like

 

those people who know that

they are going to die, plants know

to turn toward the sunlight.

 

 

 


Your Face as Conversation Piece

 

 

As conversation was pieced together,

I looked at you across the table.

 

I’m picturing someone right now, some

one who isn’t you.

 

Can you think of who it is?

Who isn’t you but is?

 

Can you sternly correct a minor

table infraction with your eyes

as gentle as your hands?

 

I’ll write these questions on a napkin

and slide them to you from across this poem.

 

You have all of the time in the world

to answer.

 

 


Assorted Flavors

 

 

Eggshell

 

is pocked with black

dots…what’s that

called?  When the

negative space

positively covers

the subject and

everything feels

real pastoral?

 

Roan

 

is the pastoral

that is slowly

peopled into

a civilization of

animals who dot

the city as it goes

off the air and

into existence.

 

 

 


May Include Pieces

 

 

This is a mighty automobile

that breathes out of one of its pieces.

And here is our very own seatbelt built for two.

 

Here is a way to make a bit of sense

out of complicated internal combustion.

 

Here is a way to a way to avoid

a way to get away from a way

around the rules if you are young,

too young for toys (like cars) with

small pieces.  Do not swallow them.