I spent the month of June 2018 on the piers of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

You laughed and told me “of course I don’t eat the fish.”

You invited me to kayak the following morning, but it rained.

I watched you bait the hook for your son.

You pointed to the dark line on the rocks and told me about the flood.

“This is my safe place.”

I watched the children splash.

“You don’t wanna touch this water.”

On the last week I watched them film, with Lady Liberty in the background.

“I’ve eaten it my whole life and I’m still alive.”

June 24, 2018:

I became a Waller (harvester of salt) by boiling down water from the New York City Harbor. While the water was actively boiling I walked back and forth across a bed of fish hooks. Once the water transformed into salt, I rubbed it into the wounds on my feet.