Monday, September 23, 2024

Montauk # 26

The North Montauk marsh.
Viewed from the 5:19 train
Sunset an hour away
Evening slipping into night
A diesel locomotive
From 1999
Hauling ten cars
Top speed
80 MPH
Over these steel tracks
Maybe 50___
Faster than the cars on 27
I don't see any
I'm on the Northside
Looking out on Neapaque Bay
A name from the Montaukeets
The tribe who once 10000
By 1740
160 souls
Declared extinct in 1906
For the Saganash____
But the tribe lives
Despite the White Man
One day the Saganash will be gone
Like today
The weekenders
Leaving by cars and trains
A day afore the equinox___
Celebrated not by most White Man
Not neglected by me
A Neanderthal
At dawn naked on the beach shack lawn
Praying for the big wave___
But not today
Today I'm feeling lucky
Minwàbimewizi
Maybe the Montaukett will be lucky again
I am
On a train back to the city
Away from the stolen lands
Of the Montaukett___
Then again America is all stolen land
From shore to shore

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