East River.
Jeff Woodbury saw this curtain wash up in Long Island City at 3 pm on April 18, 2004. See a picture here.
Atlantic Ocean.
Jeff Woodbury spotted these car parts at 2:05pm on July 4, 2004. Perhaps they belong with the tire and engine block? See a picture here.
Atlantic Ocean.
Another find by Jeff Woodbury at 2:02 pm, July 4, 2004, at Oakwood Beach on Staten Island. See a picture here.
Atlantic Ocean.
The tire was found by Jeff Woodbury at 11:54 pm on July 4, 2004, at Oakwood Beach on Staten Island. See a picture here.
Gowanus Canal.
This baby jelly was fished from the Gowanus by the New York Times urban forager and spent a few hours nestled inside a jar at our evening of poetry and performance at Proteus Gowanus in 2010. See a picture here.
Lower New York Bay.
These ancient, armored creatures still live among us. The Lined Seahorse is a native New Yorker.
Newark Bay.
This plastic purse turned up on Shooters Island, a bird sanctuary between Staten Island and New Jersey. Before it landed there, it used to be hooked on someone’s arm. Whose?
Dead Horse Bay.
Black graffiti scrawled across the pastel hull of the ship suggests a layered story. What is it?
Plum Beach.
How did this expensive piece of equipment wind up buried and alone on a vacant beach?
Long Island Sound.
This vehicle was obtained by artist Marie Lorenz, who made a print from it. Imagine who rode it before it became artwork.
Gowanus Canal.
Who would think that anything, aside from the mysterious white goo, could thrive in such polluted waters?
Bronx River.
These are just a few of the species that now live in a river that was once barely visible through the trash.
East River.
Jeff Woodbury, who spotted this flying saucer at 3:02 PM on April 18, 2004, says: "We usually imagine aliens to be somewhat human-sized, but this proves differently.” See a picture here.
East River.
This bike turned up near Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City on April 18, 2004. See a picture here.
Dead Horse Bay.
We found one roller skate and the folks at Proteus Gowanus found another. Did the same child once own both?
Arthur Kill.
It must take a lot of effort to move a whole couch into a waterway, no?
New Dorp Beach.
We’ve heard these are known locally as “beach whistles.”
Various Locations.
A project by artist Mary Mattingly, the Waterpod was docked in Queens when it hosted the first UNY reading in 2009.
New Dorp Beach.
Over the years, entropy washed this abandoned children’s hospital into the waters off of Staten Island. Read more about it here.
Dead Horse Bay.
This sunny little guy was cartwheeling across DHB when we found him.