Coney Island Baby
Yesterday Graham and I decided to play hookie and what better thing to do on a weekday on a beautiful fall day, but escape to Coney Island, like a couple of runaways? Niether of us had been there and I secretly have had a total fantasy of going out there o a day like this, when the crowds are gone, and the place is empty, and closed down. It is RARE when an idea of something lives up ALMOST EXACTLY to what you imagined it. We got off the near empty subway, only to be greeted by signs for Mermaid Avenue, where the late great folk hero, Woody Guthrie lived. I suddenly got REALLY EXCITED. We walked out and the streets were sunny and cold and empty. Not a sight you see often in the New York City proper. We crossed over to Nathan's hotdogs and ate ourselves sick on chilidogs. Note to anyone who dares do this: SKIP THE CHEESE. I don't know why I imagined a lovely pile of shredded cheddar, but the shock and DISMAY of seeing the heaping SPOUT BORNE "cheese" sent me AGAST. I know what you're thinking: You ordered CHILIDOGS and the FAKE CHEESE SCARED YOU? Yep, it did. It also proved inedible. I had to scrape it off. It was ike eating Graham's socks, after a day of strenuous hiking.
Then we set out for the Boardwalk. I've never been so happy to see a bunch of seagulls in my life. It meant we were near an ocean, and as we made the trek and spotted the steel blue horizon, I felt a rush of RELIEF come over me. The OCEAN! Thank GOD FOR OCEANS. I hadn't realized how much I missed knowing I was on a coast of some kind. What's more, the beach was smooth and quiet and DESERTED. SPACE. Actual, room to BREATHE and hear LITTLE TO NOTHING. PHEW!
It was so fun and relaxing. It also stirred my sense of adventure and imagination. Something I've been needing to feed lately. It was invigorating. I've had a secret fever for Coney Island, ever since I saw a PBS documentary on it. As we strolled along the desolate, sunny boardwalk, looking at what seemed like the DREGS of carnival structures, and deserted lots, you's never imagine the GRANDEUR that took place there at one time, the science displays, the animals, the "cultural" exhibits.
Walking along the seaside, and staring into an American landscape, filled with mystery and gaudy structures was exactly what I needed to appreciate once more where I am. It turns out, I don't need to travel very far to find the mystery I've been looking for. All I had to do was say yes to cheese at a seaside hotdog place to find the most MYSTERY I've found in a long long time.
posted by Summer Pierre at
11:17 AM
4 Comments:
Death Cab for Cutie, Coney Island
wow! thank you for that sweet, delightful story! I felt as if I was there, too. So, thanks for taking me along.
I used to be a person who was very content in my own pasture, and did not always feel the grass was greener elsewhere. I couldn't even begin to imagine going anywhere else, by choice or any other means, because I was SO satisfied with my relationship. Then something bad happened to me, not that I really like this metaphor but I got booted out of the pasture and ditched out in some other field where the grass was brown and dead. Then I thought I saw a patch of the most luxuriantly lusciously green (smart, brilliant, sweet, talented, morally conscientious) grass imaginable. Such a dreamy little patch that I thought maybe I had been blessed to leave my former pasture after all! So I kept trying to approach and graze on that grass, but it turned out to be a mirage every time I got near it. Plus, someone booby-trapped the area, so that every time I tried to walk near that luxuriantly luscious grass I ended up knee-high in manure and had to go hose myself off. Despite this rather unpleasant experience I threw myself towards that oh-so-nice and talented grass patch over and over again, and the manure-covering/ hosing cycle simply repeated itself. Finally, in the end, when I wasn't looking I ran into a similarly nice and quaint patch of clover to chew on, but I couldn't help but feel whiplashed when the little patch of brilliant grass suddenly gained a voice and cried out, "Hey! Wait a minute! Didn't you want to lie and rest on me for awhile? -- you seem to be in some desperate need of solace, and I am here for you!" Or maybe that too was a mirage, of the auditory variety. (A hallucination, that is).
--Seasoned Marzipan
I used to be a person who was very content in my own pasture, and never felt that the grass might be greener elsewhere. In fact, I couldn't even begin to imagine leaving the pasture, by choice or any other means, because I was SO satisfied there. Then something bad happened -- but I got booted out of the pasture and ditched in another field, where the grass was brown and dead. Awhile later, though, while trying to survive on this parched scrap of land, I thought I saw a patch of the most luxuriantly lusciously green (smart, brilliant, sweet, talented, morally conscientious) grass imaginable. Such a dreamy little patch that I thought maybe I had been blessed to have been booted out of my former pasture after all! So, I kept trying to approach and graze on that nice, nice grass -- but it turned out to be a mirage every time I got near it. Plus, the area seemed to be booby-trapped, so that every time I tried to approach that luxuriantly luscious grass I ended up knee-high in manure and had to go hose myself off. Despite this rather unpleasant experience I threw myself towards that oh-so-nice and talented grass patch over and over again, and the manure-covering/ hosing cycle simply repeated itself. Finally, in the end, when I wasn't looking I ran into a similarly nice and quaint patch of clover to chew on, but I couldn't help but feel whiplashed when the little patch of brilliant grass suddenly gained a voice and cried out, "Hey! Wait a minute! Didn't you want to lie and rest on me for awhile? -- you seem to be in some desperate need of solace, and I am here for you!" Or maybe that too was a mirage, of the auditory variety. (A hallucination, that is).
--Seasoned Marzipan
p.s. I just tried to post this earlier, not sure if it worked or not but at any rate have since revised and improved it. Sorry to use the comment space as an editing space!
Post a Comment
<< Home