Canarsie
Brooklyn is a very crowded place so few stand alone
in Canarsie I have always loved that name Canarsie
originally Lenape Canarsie the shadows it uncovers
the love required Canarsie a deli of saints taking a break
from the auction Canarsie the last stop before getting to where
your essence is going Uncles in Canarsie Aunts in Canarsie
Second cousins too East on Fresh Creek Basin South on Jamaica Bay
The BMT Canarsie Line Coltrane in Canarsie Monk n Miles too
Canarsie Where you only get a break every so often so
make the best of it they say in Canarsie where historically when
compared to neighboring New York nothing much has happened
in Canarsie The whole town has followed its own sense of wonder
and gone about yonder centuries w/a spring in its step and a song
in its heart And a flower in each lapel
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2025 Ulster County Poet Laureate, Mike Jurkovic has been published globally but with little reportable income. Full-length collections include Buckshot Reckoning, mooncussers, American Mental, (Luchador Press 2023, 2022, 2020); haiku collections Monet’s Bamboo (CAPS Press, 2025) Blue Fan Whirring, (Nirala Press, 2018). President, Calling All Poets, 26 years in the Hudson Valley. 2016 Pushcart nominee. CD reviews appear online at All About Jazz and lightwoodpress.com. He is the Monday 9am-10:30am host of NuJazzXcursions,WVKR-91.3FM Vassar College. He loves Emily most of all.
Mike is a frequent contributor to Lightwood. Read more poetry, reviews and articles by Mike Jurkovic here on Lightwood. Scroll to our Search Link and insert his name.
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