the weather and the people are feeling inordinately warm, as the ice quickens its thaw.
last time i was here a chubby brown-skinned girl exclaimed, as i walked past: you’re so sweet ‘n pretty!
this time a white man walking a huskie waved as i entered the tunnel
and coming up the other side upon the tree’d hill an elderly lady smiled at me round the crux of her cane
and i clambered over the two concrete blocks demarcating the grassy path to the beach
and onto the wide concrete steppes on the other side and onto the rocks jumbled out into the lake, the Point curving up along my left
and sat there awhile, mimicking the squat seagull in front of me who squawked in a much more accessible register than his crew screeching as they circled in the skies
and as i picked my way over the rocks back to shore i saw a red-headed woman urging her nervous dog over the jagged edges from which i walked
and i walked past a white jacketed figure whose face was hid behind a curtain of brown curly hair and whose back curved inwards around what i assume was a smartphone
and walked past a brown boy, shoes beside him, toes digging in warm sand, my own feet swaddled in winter socks stuffed in summer sneakers
and walked past a girl in pink with lavender hair who didn’t look up
and a boy and a girl who scooted slightly on her picnic blanket, abashed at blocking a bit of my path with their good time
walked up to n round the point of the point off of the rocks atop the flat concrete on the other side
came upon a trio finishing their fishing — asked about their technique which involved a long string of lines shot from a repurposed fire extinguisher– they called it “powerlining”
and a man later known to me as paul asked if i wanted to see their fish
“it’s a bounty out here,” he said as he hauled up his black net and at first all i saw were four pbr’s then i saw it
a “brown trout” that was more of a gray-silver fish with brown-black speckles and catfishlike rectangular mouth + gills
and the elderly man wearing a white sox jacket + bears hat behind him said — ‘i’m the one who caught it’
and i came closer to see as he pulled off worms and put them squirming on the concrete wave-breaker blocks and he said they were “nightcrawlers”
and said he’d teach me to fish and that i could also buy some “reefer”
then i came upon the part of the point that four days ago had been blockaded by ice and found i could just squeeze past it
and felt very special as i walked onto the other side
very special as i crouched in an ice cavern to pee with an unbroken view of the city skyline, briefly joining the rhythm of melting ice droplets drumming on the lakewater beneath me
very special as i clambered over the ledge of the edge and back into the park
the easian boy on the rocky step with his face to the sun did not open his eyes as i stepped by him
and the elderly man i gave a smile to on my way out smiled back and briefly searched my face, wondering how i knew him
hog maw 