The Brooklyn Bridge Is 120

The Brooklyn Bridge is 120
Years old
And she hardly looks a day
Over 100
I have always loved her
This bridge
This magnificent
Feat of engineering
The space shuttle
Of her day
When she was a mere 88
I threw her a birthday party
At the time
I was working for
Sam Leone
The Brooklyn Borough President
Who was the borough president
When Welcome Back Kotter
Was a hit on TV
When my boss
David E. Cohen
Sam’s deputy
Left town
To have
Some surgery
He told me
To not stir the pot
Or start any
Unauthorized projects
Unless he
Could
Personally
Approve
The idea
Sure boss
I said
After all
How much trouble
Could I possibly cause
That is how
The Brooklyn Bridge’s
88th birthday party
Happened
Naturally
I called in some friends
All of the Brooklyn
City Council members
And one of the local
Neighborhood bakeries
Baked a special cake
I invited the media
And the mayor of NYC
The Hon. John V. Lindsay
Who came with
His entire entourage
And every Manhattan
City Council person too
Me and the Brooklyn Boro Prez
Led our contingent
With all of our borough’s flags
Unfurled
And the folks on the Manhattan side
Did the same
We all met somewhere
In the middle of the bridge
Under those magnificent
Gothic arches
And we shook hands and embraced
Then both sides turned around
And headed for their favorite pubs
To toast the bridge
And ourselves
When my boss returned
From Canada
He started to give me the
Good old whatfor
I heard the ruckus
You kicked up
All the way
In Canada
He said
You all made
The evening TV news
I thought I told you
To cool your jets
While I was away
I know I said
But I just couldn’t
Help myself
I just wanted to see
If I could handle
A big press event
By myself
And it worked
I said showing him
All the newspaper clippings
I even saved you
A piece of the cake
He was smiling
This was usually
A good sign
Well don’t let it go
To your head
He said
Wincing a bit
Where his new stitches pulled
Next thing I know
You’ll be bucking
For my job
And he was right
Because I did

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2011