I. CONEY ISLAND

the Sirens they tell me
to bury my love
underneath the
boardwalk,
to stay with them,
as so many have done before
be wary, my darling
they will steal your heart away.

II. BOARDWALK

memories we trample on the boardwalk and do we ever notice we leave behind our imprints and do
we ever realize they will fade away and only we will have them. the others, they’ll have faded them
away, trampled them with worn sandals and child’s feet, and leave behind, lingering, like smoke, their laughing children and their weary ankles and their zeppole sugared fingertips, and we are things of the past now, love.

III. SAILORS

In little boats
and the swelling of the sea!
And we can hear –
but Odysseus had beeswax
and rope
and we have none.
And why return to a battle, you think –
when there are such lovely Sirens
calling out instead.

IV. WONDERWHEEL/COTTON CANDY

We are calling out to you
Brooklyn!
We are clasping the protective cages

Of the Wonder Wheel ferris wheel!
We wish we could yell
until our love pours out from our throats
and spreads like melted butter over the city.

We are calling out to you
Brooklyn!
We are singing from the tops of the Wonder Wheel!
We are swinging in our rickety Wonder Wheel carts!

And we are having SUCH
a VERY GOOD TIME
and couldn’t it stay like this forever?

Sticking like cotton candy
to the backs of our throats,
is nostalgia foreshadowed:
Our Brooklyn
and the sepia tones we will create in
our minds.

V. CONEY ISLAND (REPRISE)

Bury my love
underneath the
boardwalk
As we have done so many times before

Be wary, my darling,
they’ll steal your heart away.

And do not desert me
for the Sirens are cruel
and would we stay with them
as so many have done before?

Would we stay, darling
(as lonely sailors often had)
Beauty is a lovely disguise
but pasts cannot sustain us
for very long.

Gabriella Gonzales
Age 15, Grade 10
Bard High School Early College
Gold Key