These spaces they are sacred to us

we’ve been swimming in these waters all our lives but we don’t need a lawn chair and we definitely don’t need a hibachi

and we won’t be defecating on the shores

this place was open to you once upon a time

You were welcome every day

to splash in the waters and watch your children play but now no one’s welcome anymore

and the police they drive-by

they’ll take your license plate number and tell you not to return

But I told the last cop who busted me at the last spot

i said listen kid, I’ve been swimming in these waters for 40 some odd years and I don’t plan to stop now

I’ve never gone behind that do not trespass sign because there are far more beautiful places to go

now those places too

are overrun with litter and refuse thanks to the New York Times and Vogue

I won’t be swimming here

but a few miles upstream you might find me on a hot summer day having walked all the way lest  my license plate number be caught on their radar today…