The Ghost of the Salt Marsh Starts a Riot
1988
This was a salt marsh when it was claimed by the Dutch
Republic. The land rejected those first settlers.
Manaháhtaan grabbed them by the legs and
pulled them into the swamp until their lungs filled with
mud and brine. Daniel Tompkins drained the marshes
and avenged those drowned men.
They named a park after him.
Tonight, the Ghost of the Salt Marsh welcomes
rioters, looters, squatters, communists,
anarchists, punks, and the homeless into her
camp. She guides their hands towards the necks
of landlords, cops, soldiers, politicians,
and whispers stories of how she used to
fill their mouths with brine.
I watched their white eyes turn pink in the salt
when I held their little heads in the water,
she sings to her legion of the dispossessed
as the pigs line up on Avenue B.
When tonight’s four hour long battle
in Tompkins Square Park is over,
so much blood will drain into the soil
the salt marsh will emerge from hiding.