One day, beezras hashem, there will be a bisl (ober zayer gut geshribn) background here!
Read by Victor Packer
Coney Island
קאָני אײַלענד
Translated by Henry Sapoznik
Sand and people.
People and sand.
On the sand a world of people.
On the people a sea of sand.
People dipped in sand.
People laid in sand.
People mixed in sand.
People soaked in sand.
Who is damp and
Who is dry
Who’s still wet fresh from the sea
Who’s all covered in mud
And who’s just dirty as can be
There’s no room, you’ll have to stand
And forget lying down
A mattress in the sand
A world stretches out there
Whole peoples
Whole races
Whole castes
Whole tribes
There are mountains of people
All thrown together
An entire “Internationale”
Spread in every direction
And everyone lies together
With no distinctions
Mixed in the muck and mire
A man and wife wallow
Scattered among the whole stockyard
Flesh and skin
Hands and feet and feet and hands
Hips, backs, loins atop the sands
Knees and thighs and hips
Rouged cheeks
Red lips
Everything is pressed together
Everything is squeezed together
There are limbs with limbs
There are limbs near limbs
There are limbs under limbs
There are limbs on limbs
It’s a clearinghouse of bones
A limb exchange
A hand gets to know a foot
While a foot ends up on a head.
An arm dukes it out with a knee
And a knee puts its foot down.
A neck kisses a stomach
And the stomach gets comfy with a rib.
A cheek meets a lip
And they make a trade.
A hand strays over a heart
And a heaaaaaaaaaart
Finally finds some skin.
A mouth plants itself on an ear
But the ear is deaf to it.
An elbow surrounded
A neck like a rope
So eyes threw the elbow
A stolen glance
And eyes look
Eyes twinkle
Eyes glance
Eyes glimmer
Eyes burn
Eyes devour man and wife
Hands lay entwined
Hands lay enshrined
Around bodies
Around hips
Around limbs
Around skins
There are couples
There are groups
And lovers
And brothers
But mostly strangers lie
With others
But this one and the other
And that one and the other
One winks at the other
And they peep at each other
It’s a display of bodies
A concourse of feet
Eyes appraise as they measure
Who’s a dish
And who’s a dog
Who leaves you wanting more
Who’s a nauseating bore
There, ugliness
And charm
Have all assembled by the shore
Beauty and crudity
Go hand in hand and
Launch a united front
Right there on the sand
Lithe young women lying
Sinuous and snaky
Just beside half-ton
Bountiful ladies
Bodies hued all red and brown
Singed by the sun
While their neighbors are
Swollen like a balloon
It’s an easy breezy world
Where clothes are mostly shed
Where skin is just barely covered
By a tiny piece of thread
So here lies temptation
And there, ostentation
Yet everything
Is dirt-encrusted,
Scattered, and slathered
Just try and unwind
You can literally drown
In the waves of rind from
Oranges
And bananas
And apples
Eggs
Pears
You trudge through their wrappers
And fall into disrepair
Near everyone is a sack
Filled to bursting and more
And everyone eats a portion
Or someone eats for four
Mouths work wonders, let me tell you
As they binge to beat the band
And inhale what’s at hand
Sandwiches filled
With sand
Oy! do the people
Have fun and
Oy! life on the sand is fun and
Long live Coney Island!
Everything is appetizing
Nothing is forbidden
It’s all easy, fine, and free
Those who want to meet someone
That’ll happen one, two, three
You sidle yourself over
Reaching with your hands
Suddenly, you’re good friends
There’s no reason to
Be alone
No one needs to be
Forced
No one needs to be
Coerced
One thing leads to another
And everyone’s nicely tanned
And laid out together
You don’t even need to talk
The eyes do all the talking
But if someone’s eyes make
You want to roam
All you need to do is move
From the sand into the foam
The ocean is a pleasure
You can cavort
And laugh, too
The sea is so friendly to Jews
It isn’t bothered by what you do
You go from the sand into the sea
Lively, happy and glad
At first still half-above
Then your whole body dunks under
Whole breakers
Whole waves
Soaking ribs
Soaking hips
And the water strokes, surrounds them
Like a lover his beloved
He whispers to her and splashes her
And flings her upside down
There are those who swim slowly, smoothly
And then break into a gallop
And those who swim on their back
Or on their side or belly, and there
Are those who go in headfirst with
Their feet up in the air
Those who splash and make a tumult
Those who swim all quiet and still
And the sea with its tricks
Does just what it will
There’s a couple in the water
Swimming together as a pair
Then a wave gives chase
Drives them off and splits them
And now one swims alone
Thrown far out beyond the tide
A wave drags him under and places
A bathing beauty at his side
He is old and she is young
He could be her dad
But the ocean keeps to itself
And pretends it doesn’t care
It throws them and it heaves them
And propels them as a pair
While waves beating
Hunting
Running
Accompanying everyone everywhere
Rhythmic, rhythmic
There are bodies
In the watery rips
Rhythmic, rhythmic
The cadences of hands
And feet and hips
Blustery lips and mouths
Gulp for air
And gasp there
With a very strange sigh:
EHHHHHHH . . . FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
EHHHHHHH . . . FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
EHHHHHHH . . . FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
EHHHHHHH . . . FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
EHHHHHHH . . . Ahhhhhhhhh
EHHHHHHH . . . Ahhhhhhhhh
EHHHHHHH . . . Ahhhhhhhhh
EHHHHHHH . . . Ahhhhhhhhh
Oh the water, dear old water
You’re so clear and you’re so blue
Oh the water, dear old water
Like a woman’s caressing you
OY!
OY!!
OY!!!
OYYYYYYYYY!
Suddenly all loud and clear
The sound of an old Jew way out there
Splashing himself from top to toe
OY!
OY!!
OY!!!
OYYYYYYYYY!
Leaning and preening
In the water
He splashes his head
OY!
OY!!
OY!!!
OYYYYYYYYY!
He moans and he groans
And rinses in a rush
And dunks and plunks himself
Like in a mikvah
As he makes the Sabbath
For himself
OY!
OY!!
OY!!!
OYYYYYYYYY!
When he gulps and he gurgles
And he makes a holy racket
BRRRIT’SCOLD
BRRRIT’SCOLD
BRRRIT’SCOLD
BRRRIT’SCOLD
He turns this way and that
And again till he’s sore
VAVAVAVAVAVAVVVO!
No more strength, no more.
