Noon
with Ayler
at Manasquan Inlet

a clam boat
slowly approaching

Jersey shore towns
are ghost towns                    
in winter

a brief respite
from the tourists
of summer

boat in inlet now
raising its hoists

one lone worker on deck
in orange hip waders
spackle buckets
overflowing
with clams

---

ORIZABA!

1.

the sea which
fed him his
livilhood
swallowed
him whole

foot caught
in the rigging
of the lobster
nets

overboard
like Hart Crane

ORIZABA!

2.

Hart Crane
eaten by
sharks

poem-circled

scent of blood
& bone -

not very lyrical
not much music
in it

---

On the Road to the Contagious Crackhouse


row houses
occuppied by their original owners
first generation Hungarian
immigrants brought in
to the states by johnson
& johnson early in the
20th Century

plaster Madonnas
& no shortage
of shrines

an occasional
goldfish pond
gone brackish
with dis-
ease

4 foot high
chain link
fences

gates
off-kilter
scratching
grooves into
the sidewalk -

& everything
leaning a little

© Dave Roskos