Sky, Clouds, Things Beneath Them

Bayonne, NJ - jack - Thursday, January 11th, 2007 : goo

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sun and some clouds, no precipitation, winds from northeast, overall a pleasant day over bayonne, oops the verrazano bridge where travolta jumped off of, where several men died when building it, where the old streets below with cobblestones and small sidewalks and cute little homes once existed long before the developers decided to build this thing and which they said they would charge 50 cents for until they recover the cost and now we pay $9 to ride over and where is the money going i ask you, naturally into some crooked politicians pockets. when i returned from overseas our ship passed under this structure and the roadway was not yet in and i looked up through the cables and thought what will happen to the ferry to staten island, the ferry, it was wonderful taking the ferry, all of you should take a ferry ride now and then, it gives you time to think and you all need some time to think, don't take an army ship cruise to europe, when i got on the ship in december of 61 i was put to work in the mess hall and we hit some storms in the north atlantic and the ship rocked and bolted up and down and when you went to the latrine you had to hold on to the sides of the toilet or you would be thrown off like my little buddy jose who weighed no more than 143 pounds and he crapped all over the floor we had to pick him up and put him in the shower and clean the floor and the men on the ship were throwing up, vomiting in their plates which would slide over to the guy next to him and he would vomit in the same plate and after they went out on deck to vomit more i would take a hose and wash down the vomit smelling, muck vomit mess on the seats and tables and i never once got sick because i lived near coney island and loved the sea and i would take a row boat out of nellie bly and would row all over the inlet by the verrazano bridge.

there should be two tall towers to the left of the center of this picture but you know what happened and can you imagine that my grandchildren will never have seen them and never have walked beneath them or around them. on cortland street and west street there was a bar on the corner and the man who owned this bar fought max schmelling in 1936 for the heavyweight title and here he was showing me, a young 17 yr old kid who just started working at the appeal printing company at 130 cedar street, his photos of the guys he fought, the bar was a dark place, not much lighting, with a few tables and a long bar with hard boiled eggs in bowls for rough dock workers to eat while having a beer rough men who fought in a war that was raging all over the world, men who were in the navy, air corps, marines from iwo jima soldiers who marched all over europe with patton and men who fought in the pacific, men and women who battled for years, and i, standing at the bar listening to all their stories, what men i was in the company of, what men.

i caught the top of the intrepid by mistake, i thought i saw it and as i was driving i snapped the picture and there it was the old lady, the intrepid, i will go back and take some more for you all because you all deserve it, and that ship went through several wars and time and survived all the time when we were children looking for cookies and cake.

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