BOARDWALK
By Charles Pierre.
This splintered swath
with its burning masses,
where nothing can grow,
hides a cool path
of sand and grasses
directly below,
a place of laughs
and eager kisses
only the teens know.
From the author’s 2014 collection Coastal Moments, Hayland Press, New York.
k.d. lang
“On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be…………………….”
Editor’s Note: This line, of course, is from the 1964 song “Under the Boardwalk” made famous by the Drifters. One line says “We’ll be falling in love…” while another version says “We’ll be making love..”
My experience observing the wildlife under the boardwalk is that they were mostly “making out.” However, my cousin and I observed many Coney Island whitefish in the sand under the boardwalk and even in the surf (yuck), so all these variations on the lyrics are true.—Paul @Blogfinger
In the day—this was called a passion pit. So were drive in movies
Bruce Davidson is famous for his black and white photographs around New York City, especially in places where the joys and the skirmishes of poor people occurred. This image is from his series called “Brooklyn Gang” (1959.)
When I was a kid, my mother’s large family from Bayonne would rendezvous on weekends at Coney Island. The boardwalk was a wonderland, but under the boardwalk was a forbidden city where there were stores and food stands. And, for my cousin Chuck and I, pre-teens, we were urban explorers, most interested in the goings on in the shadows on the blankets. —-Paul @ Blogfinger