Thought this might be of interest to Mr. OceanFlower...

Friends remember Northport's Freddy Piercey

Originally published: December 26, 2011 11:47 AM
Updated: December 26, 2011 8:02 PM
By JENNIFER BARRIOS  jennifer.barrios@newsday.com



Photo credit: Cliff Gardiner | Freddy Piercey, 68, was found dead Saturday morning in Northport Harbor.





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The window at Gunther's Tap Room in Northport Village won't be the same without Freddy Piercey stationed at his usual corner chair, waggling his fingers in greeting to his many friends.

"We joked he held up the wall for 30 years," said Debi Curzio, a bartender at Gunther's who counted herself among Piercey's closest friends.

Piercey's body was discovered in Northport Harbor Saturday morning, more than two weeks after he was reported missing after leaving Gunther's on Dec. 6.

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Suffolk County police said Piercey's death did not appear to be suspicious, but they did not release a cause.

Monday, Northport residents recalled Piercey, 68, who friends said lived on a sailboat in Northport Harbor, as a tough, loyal friend who drummed on his legs and had a penchant for Spam.

Northport resident Tony Corcione sat in Piercey's usual seat at Gunther's Monday -- next to the New York Lottery forms, with a clear view of Main Street out of the window. He said Piercey could often be seen walking around the village, refusing rides that Corcione or others offered him.

"He was his own man," Corcione said. "He didn't ask anybody for anything."

Piercey, who was born above the Northport Sweet Shop in 1943, was estranged from his family, friends said.

But he counted legions among his friends in the village, where he cut a distinctive figure with his long, ZZ Top-style beard and colorful language. His best jibes were reserved for those he truly loved, said another friend, Joseph Norton, of Northport.

"If he didn't call you a rat . . . he didn't love you," Norton said. "He was funny, intelligent and stood his ground."

Piercey's frankness even extended to his brushes with fame -- he used to drink alongside writer Jack Kerouac at Gunther's, but seemed unimpressed, Curzio said. He saved some choice words to describe the "On the Road" author, calling him an "idiot" and worse.

While Piercey was picky about his friends, he adored animals and small children, those who knew him said. He distributed candy outside Gunther's on Halloween this year, much to the delight of Northport's trick-or-treaters.

"Children or animals always gravitated toward him," said Jeanne Goldschrafe, 60, of Northport, who added that she was a longtime friend of Piercey's. "You can't get a better judge than a dog or a kid."

Memorial service details were not available Monday and Piercey's family could not be reached for comment. Curzio said Piercey would have wanted to be cremated, with his remains scattered at Northport's Scudder Beach.

"Freddy lived his life the way he wanted to and Freddy went out the way he wanted to," Curzio said. "And that, my friend, that's key."

The ocean said to me once by Charles Bukowski

The ocean said to me once,
"Look!
Yonder on the shore
Is a woman, weeping.
I have watched her.
Go you and tell her this --
Her lover I have laid
In cool green hall.
There is wealth of golden sand
And pillars, coral-red;
Two white fish stand guard at his bier.

"Tell her this
And more --
That the king of the seas
Weeps too, old, helpless man.
The bustling fates
Heap his hands with corpses
Until he stands like a child
With a surplus of toys."

I've had the pilot sitting in my DVR and haven't watched it yet. I will, but have to say that with everything I have read about the tension between Milch and Michael Mann, I am a little reluctant to commit to another Milch/HBO endeavor.

Great poetry Mz Waterlilly! and Sven, your poetry never makes me sleepy! I told you I would come back, dear Sven, so I decided to re-emerge with some ocean poetry. I always felt that the ocean (off of Imperial Beach) deserved a Best-Supporting Actor Emmy for it's role in our beloved show.(especially in that haunting, final scene)

The strong shore is my beloved
And I am his sweetheart.
We are at last united by love, and
Then the moon draws me from him.
I go to him in haste and depart
Reluctantly, with many
Little farewells.

I steal swiftly from behind the
Blue horizon to cast the silver of
My foam upon the gold of his sand, and
We blend in melted brilliance.

I quench his thirst and submerge his
Heart; he softens my voice and subdues
My temper.
At dawn I recite the rules of love upon
His ears, and he embraces me longingly.
At eventide I sing to him the song of
Hope, and then print smooth kisses upon
His face; I am swift and fearful, but he
Is quiet, patient, and thoughtful. His
Broad bosom soothes my restlessness.

As the tide comes we caress each other,
When it withdraws, I drop to his feet in
Prayer.

Many times have I danced around mermaids
As they rose from the depths and rested
Upon my crest to watch the stars;
Many times have I heard lovers complain
of the smallness, and I helped them to sigh.

Many times have I stolen gems from the
Depths and presented them to my beloved
Shore. He takes in silence, but still
I give for he welcomes me ever.

In the heaviness of night, when all
Creatures seek the ghost of Slumber, I
Sit up, singing at one time and sighing
At another. I am awake always.

Alas! Sleeplessness has weakened me!
But I am a lover, and the truth of love
Is strong.
I may weary, but I shall never die.
Kahlil Gibran

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

ee cummings