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THIS is:
THAT is:
THAT is
the staircase to
Friendship Beach
in Rocky Point, New York
THIS is
how the beach looks Today
and how it looked in 1959
when my family bought
a house with
a breakfast table view
of water-skiers
The writer of THIS and THAT
would sometimes sleep
just above the tide line
of Friendship Beach
without informing his parents
that he was doing so
Nor did I give them
any information
as to what I was doing
that night
For this reason,
I decided NEVER
to become a parent
Because if I had
and the offspring acted
in any way
like his/her father,
the latter would have
commit murder
But I ultimately had more than
fifteen hundred children
whose names changed
every September
and never once
have I commit
murder
The staircase is the eighth
incarnation of access to
Friendship Beach
The original incarnation
—in 1959—
was where I first saw graffiti
It was three words
scrawled onto the side
of the Friendship beach ramp:
FRANKIE LOVES COOKIE
***
I would like to thank
Nick Lomangino
for sending me
the staircase image
My friend of sixty years
is still alive and well
in Rocky Point
Not only does he
remember that graffiti,
but he remembers
exactly who
FRANKIE and COOKIE
were and Nick gave me
first-hand stories
about both of them
The other photo is mine
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