Minetta Lane – A poem for old-world Manahatta and Manhattan indigenous history
I grew up in New Jersey, so I had my fair share of Chinatown dinners, Lincoln Center jazz, late-night factory parties, and spoken word field trips. But it wasn’t until the eve of my move to the center of the country that I learned the Lenape history of Minetta Lane, one of the last places in the city where Manhattan indigenous history is preserved. Here’s the poem I wrote while traipsing around “the city” of my childhood. I hope you enjoy!
Minetta Lane
An evil place of sadness
Iron spiralized arrows protecting you from what’s inside.
The monument, vanquished, feeding fish on serpentine sidewalks
A circular bench
A triangular park (the most stable of shapes).
Quiet, a little corner leading down an alley with one lane, red brick, shivering, shuffling shame
that looks back over its shoulder, adjusting its hair off its sweating neck,
and breathes
What was once present here?
Slithering snake
Broken jar
Free green hose.
And somebody loading luggage into a cab resting atop filled-in creek
gutting its way through the bountiful island of Manahatta, its hills and subsequent valleys you’d like to live in.
Fought to live in, trade in,
spend $20 on a cream-cheese-and-smoked-salmon bagel
only to follow the sound of crashing glass and the ruby-red ribcage of a splayed-out bird
to Minetta Lane,
this once-honored hushed home of “evil.”
Don’t rush there, the site of a single-family townhouse for sale, an Ikea bunk bed bedspread peeking through.
Rusted, locked bars on windows as you round the bend
The cage opens
Breathe–
Can you feel the city breathing? Under surveillance and covered by noise emanating from buzzing bells and motorcycle smells
earthenware overhang into a courtyard on Minetta Lane.
Emerging onto the Avenue of the Americas,
water from a pond might cool you down.
I need coffee.
Nanabush, the Lenape hero, might make it for me
out of snake-infested water
and a dash of evil spirit
if he’s out of cream.
For more info on the history of Minetta Lane and Manhattan indigenous history, visit https://villagepreservation.org/2021/10/26/the-lenape-myths-that-explain-their-land-minetta-creek/
