I never enjoy admitting
that my father was born
on Staten Island
because that makes me
a Staten Islander by association
but I have lived in shame and secrecy
for too long now
and it is time
at last
to admit my past.

In another century
on another island
my father was declared the New Dorp Baby.
I was not there.
I did not encourage it.
Though proud of it in his youth
my father left Staten Island
with his parents
in the forties
and started a new life in Brooklyn.

It is out.
I have said it.
I have no current relationship
with the borough of Richmond
but
my blood runs through that land.
I am not proud of it
nor do I support its people
over the borough of New York.

I am from Staten Island
indirectly
but not of it.
I do not endorse it.
My father is gone now
so all possible relationships
with that errant land
are currently and permanently severed.

I hope you will give me
and my family
the privacy we need
to sort out the information
discussed here, today.

Thank you for your time.