Cruising On the Hudson
Author: Bill Roberts
At one time I was gainfully employed
on Hudson Street on the eighth floor
of a building housing Oakite Products,
an old-line company that produced soaps
and metal-finishing chemicals,
my first and only job in New York.
The Hudson River was one block west,
and often at lunchtime I’d grab a sandwich
at a deli and walk over to see the ships
just in from or, more entertaining, getting
ready to cast off for European destinations.
I’d board some of those ships, unabashedly,
make my way into state rooms and join in
lavish parties, consuming canapes and
bubbly drinks, join in merriment with
the well-heeled travelers and their guests,
me an interloper who didn’t have enough
gumption or wherewithal to stay aboard,
visit far-off lands, extend my liberal education.
Instead, I heeded the warning bell that
sounded for us landlubbers to go ashore,
back to work, continue our humdrum lives.
That was in the early Sixties when Ethel
Merman was on Broadway in “Gypsy”
and the astounding “Threepenny Opera”
played nightly at Theatre de Lys in the Village.
Never would I have imagined an airplane
landing on the scabrous Hudson River to save
the lives of all aboard from disaster – the water
was for boats, not commercial airliners.
Thank goodness for the Hudson – it provided
me many noontime pleasures. And it
saved the lives of a hundred and fifty folks
who hadn’t signed on for a river cruise.
(Published in the 2009 issue of MOBIUS: The Poetry Magazine and nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize)
Note: This is a true story, from beginning to end. We, Irene and I, moved to New York from D.C. after a visit in 1959 when we saw both “Gypsy” and the incredible “Threepenny Opera,” the latter perhaps the best musical event of my life – magic! We transferred ourselves in the fall of 1960, living in a lovely brownstone house (the equivalent of two rooms) at 68 Perry Street in the Village, a great place to live. Too expensive, so we packed up and moved to a rent-controlled apartment on the eighth floor of another great building at 35 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Our view was of the lower Manhattan skyline and further north, the great city right out our windows. And all the ships coming and going, mainly sleek cruise liners but also enormous battleships and aircraft carriers, seemingly right below our windows. A thrilling time to be in New York, but after three years we decided to move to Colorado. Another of our smart choices in life.
