Long Island Poetry
A Long Island Endeavor
Paumanok, Transition
Editorial Staff: Richard Bronson, Carmen Bugan, Linda Dickman, Kathy Donnelly, Carolyn Emerson, Gladys Henderson,
Mindy Kronenberg, Robert Savino, Barbara Southard, Gayl Teller and Pramila Venkateswaran
Terry Amburgey
ARRIVING ON PAUMANOK
Paumanok: "The island with its breast long drawn out.”
W.W. Brooklyn Standard
A Midwesterner, an inlander,
a lover of the interior,
arrives on Long Island. “Paumanok!”
he whispers, savoring his Whitman,
local aborigine. “Paumanok,” he says,
half aloud. He feels salt water swaying
on every side of him. He looks around
for the rows and rows of ripening
corn he’d sighted down since he was
pushed from the womb. None. Expressways.
“Paumanok,” he repeats, looking
at a map. “Manhasset…Mineola…Massapequa,
”he reads. He picks out the red and green lines
looping the long breast. He turns them
on his tongue like strange herbs.
“Cutchogue…Patchogue…Ponquogue,
”he intones. “Wantagh and Wickapogue.
”He feels a mist drifting in from the shore.
“Quogue and Nissequogue, Nesconsett
and Amagansett,” he sings. He hears the
surf spashing nearer. “Commack
and Speonk and Setauket,” he chants,
“Ronkonkoma, Ronkonkoma.” “Shinnecock,
Peconic.” In the middle of a fog
sliding inland off the sea like
the souls of the dead, he says, softly,
“Mattituck, Montauk.” He whispers,
“Paumanok, Paumanok.” He begins
to hear voices from the interior.
Norbert Krapf
Robert Harrison
Paumanok
you spread your finned fingers
118 miles east from New York Harbor to Montauk Point,
stretch 23 miles north-south from Long Island Sound
to the southern Atlantic coast,
1,401 square miles of luscious you
Paumanok
you embrace more than 7.5 million devotees
between limbs of the Pine Barrens
from the peak of Jayne’s Hill to the kettle depths
of Lake Ronkonkoma, across emerald lawns
of Gold Coast mansions, past strip stores and busy malls,
along Poospatuck and Shinnecock Reservations
through native-named towns of Nissequogue
Massapequa, Canarsie, Patchogue, Amagansett, Asharoken,
Commack, Copiague, Rockaway, Manhasset, Sagaponack
your vineyards ripe with vintage abundance
arboretums and planting fields vibrant with blossoms
your tears of sorrow and happiness quenching us
enchanting us with your legends and mysteries
alerting us to your federally-endangered Sandplain Gerardia
your Roseate Tern, Bird’s Foot Violet, Piping Plover
teach us to love you, honor you, abide by your unspoken rules
educate us Stony Brook, SUNY, NYIT, Adelphi, Hofstra, LIU,
Dowling, Molloy, Nassau Community, Suffolk Community
museums, galleries, parks, preserves, aquariums, zoos
– with your brains and talent-show beauty, it’s no wonder you
are the most populated island of any US state or territory
Paumanok, home
to our Islanders, Mets, Ducks, The Big Duck,
the Hamptons wealthy with elegance
Jones Beach, the amphitheatre, the needle, the boardwalk
clamming, crabbing, floating
on your bosom of water
crossing your estuaries, your rivers, your flowing birth waters
commuting your byways, your highways, routes to your heart
ferries at Port Jefferson, Orient Point, Shelter Island
Fire Island Lighthouse
9 bridges and 13 tunnels funneling your lovers
across your historic land
Paumanok
you move us, yearn for our return
with major airstrips at LaGuardia, JFK, MacArthur
railroads, subways, buses, recreational trails, drive-ways
north-south BQE, Van Wyck, Clearview, Cross Island,
Meadowbrook, Wantagh, Seaford Oyster Bay , Robert Moses Causeway, Sagtikos, Sunken Meadow, William Floyd
east-west Belt/Southern State, Grand Central/Northern State,
LIE, Northern Blvd, Jericho Tpke, Hempstead Tpke,
Montauk Hwy, Sunrise
to sunset, you give of yourself, ask nothing in return –
mold us to deserve your generosity
help us to preserve your integrity
Paumanok
we worship you, the ground we walk on, plant in, grow on
arms entwined in fins, protect us from harming you, help us
conserve you, secure you, love us as we adore you
beloved Paumanok,
our Paumanok.
~ J R Turek
Did Albert die?