Discovering Florida
Sunshine State Life in Short Verse.
Introduction
Northwest Florida
Suwannee River Basin
St. Johns River Basin
Central Florida
South Florida
Dedicated to the Magnificent State of Florida
Copyright 2020 Kevin Songer
All Rights Reserved
Introduction
Remembering Florida past and present with short verse, Kevin takes you on a whirlwind trip through Florida’s nature, geography, ecology and fascinatingly unique history.
Florida is Florida, good and bad, a diversely unique state home to fascinating geological, ecological and climatic oddities as well as colorful populations of interesting people. Kevin is a third generation Floridian who also is an aortic dissection survivor.
Defying survival odds and recovering from a massive tear in his aorta from the heart down into his legs, Kevin turns to short verse for help in dealing with dissection related cognitive function. He is fond of telling others how his aortic mechanical valve’s loud heartbeat clicking sets the pace for each step, breath and thought with a 5-7-5 beat.
Following a very similar format to haiku’s 5-7-5 verse structure, Kevin succinctly explores an amazing amount of Florida’s colorful past, present and future. His short verse creates a myriad of images in one’s mind, transporting us through time and across Florida’s truly unique landscape.
Modeled after haiku, senryu and haiga my poetry follows a Florida homestead type approach to the art of verse with no rules other three lines and roughly seventeen more or less breaths or syllables.
Finding long complicated and word filled paragraphs difficult to comprehend, I hope to capture each verse’s subject matter depth and width in seventeen syllables more or less. With short verse I want to takes the reader from the shores of the Panhandle around Pensacola, traveling next east to Tallahassee, then down the Suwannee River south along the eastern coastline and Atlantic seashore mid-state area, southwest and the southern terminus in Key West and the Dry Tortugas.
Bring your imagination and enjoy a light and hopefully deeply insightful journey across the Sunshine State through time and place with me here in my Florida short verse. Feel free to share my Florida short verse with appropriate credit in non-commercial use.
The ‘Panhandle’
Northwest Florida
…
jellyfish stuck
thrown out of its home
tide’s edge inch away
…
Pensacola skies
mirror sea’s turbulence as
blue angels roll
…
p colas nickname
red neck rivera does not
sunburn describe
…
Fort Pickens state park
tourist dollars parade
old Geronimo
…
Emmanuel Point
Spanish fleet rides cyclone
churned bottoms
……
Pensacola light,
confederate pot shots hit
but beacon still shines bright
…
Escambia heat
black water river, sandy shore
so cool to be hot
…
Fort Pickens noisy
campground kids, loud crashing waves
osprey screams loudest
…
Gulf Islands Preserve
white sugar sand beaches such
sweet eye candy
…
Big Lagoon state park
swift tide sweeps away my
blues and lunch basket
……
BP oil spill sheen,
ghost crabs coat many colors
still haunts Perdido key
……
Hurricane Ivan
steals Escambia Bay bridge,
young truck driver screams
…
McGuire’s Irish
18 cent senate bean soup
lots of bucks left
…
don’t name your child Juan,
Erin, Opal or Ivan;
Pensacola jinx
…
toss sardine can
to hungry grackle scavenger,
homeless dude grabs first
…
all we leave crumbles
through geologic time,
seawalls always fall
…
…
pelican flock
churn salt white waves purple with
redfish blood
…
……
yummy gulf grouper
caught off Pensacola shore
omega rig oil
…
Tarkiln bayou bog
creepy crawlies thrash within
pitcher plant’s throat
…
Jay sweet crude
sherds of white plastic
fracked neighbor’s well
…
jam before bird feed
downy serviceberry’s ripe
fruit, June’s kitchen
…
Milton chinquapin
locals say chinkapins
stuck in your teeth
……
black titi tree
bees’ white warm weather bloom,
nice nectar heist
…
carnivorous plants
thunderous wind overhead
weather Whiting storms
…
skeeters and sand gnats
bugs sole purpose is to get
me to slap my ears
…
Blackwater River
kayaks float on smooth dark glass
paddle breaks the calm
…
sing Atlantic white
cedar on blackwater shore
maestro branches sway
……
I know I shouldn’t
pull plant and sniff candyroot,
but no one’s looking
…
……
William Chipley’s
Pensacola to Jax rail,
was steamboat’s extinction
…
15 million icy
blue gallons daily boil up out,
Ponce de León Springs
…
Bonifay lumber jacks
iron tough musclewood carve
hard hornbeam handles
…
first bloom
redbud brights winter dark
for Crestview spring lights
…
trumpet shaped plant fills
Yellow River wetland marsh
with bug appetite
……
Fort Walton Beach,
Eglin’s bomb range neighborhood
cloudless day boom town
…
Boggy Bayou
Mulletfest attracts schools of
Niceville fin fans
…
Destin seafood fest
fare from flat shallows, red to
deep crustacean blue
…
Destin Topsail Hill
Preserve’s blinding sand ablaze,
run for cool shoreline
…
pitcher plant swamp
welcome, hotel Florida,
bugs can never leave
……
Florida salt marsh
shocking rich diversity
of import beer cans
…
flowers hot colors
bear pollinator’s desire,
dressing for success
…
Panama City Beach
worlds stressful clamoring clang,
waves crash hush hush
…
Panama City Beach
high seas pirate festival,
sand caked shoe shake
…
spring break capital
can choose what to swim in
blue ocean gold beer
……
good omega 3s
pier rails make good cutting boards
healthy elbow grease
…
hot plastic beach chair
sand, beer and white poo spots
thrill novice snow birds
…
black top swelter
pig’s sweat drops sizzle
parking lot hip hop
…
Mexico Beach
salty turquoise sea sands
style my long hair
…
salty fishing town
Apalachicola
smells like an oyster
……
small reds splish splash
blind blissful last moment as
osprey wastes no time
…
black willow
river calligraphy pen,
branch tips dip and draw
…
John Gorrie’s heat stroke,
Apalachicola flash
thaws ice machine knot
…
Florida’s tallest
sycamore trees reach up,
downstream Apalach
…
Orman House goings,
cotton export business wakes
sleepy Apalach
……
low coastal flatwoods
red cockaded woodpecker
candlestick pines light
…
rusty shrimp boat
nets hang high from iron boom,
painted in gull poop
…
Venus dusk canvas
one last taste of long days
star studded color
…
East Point Florida
folk come here to get to two
bridges and oysters
…
sea fog linen
tidal ghosts cross sand dunes to
paint plate glass windows
……
mama shrimp’s seashore
new view has great blue heron
bleak beak perspective
…
St George toll bridge road
rough water slosh oyster boats,
money makers both
…
Eastpoint bay evening
barnacled oyster boats
never seem to move
…
St George clear dark
countless glimmering twinkles
shoot off still bay
…
ocean thunderstorm
out over night horizon
so far, but so close
……
Apalach fish fest
oyster shuckers ignore loud
dogged gulls gall
…
……
old gopher tortoise
long rattlesnake, how do they
cross swift deep channel
…
youngster temptation
choppy channel dreams, swim to
dog island’s close shore
…
heavy fat oysters
impatient drool when i try
to shuck em open
…
oyster tough case,
fisherman’s wrinkled tan
hard skin, soft insides
…
treasure with eyes
St Joe seagrass hide
gem prism scallops
……
old San Blas lighthouse
storms blow it over, rebel troops
burn it, yet still stands
…
purple blazing star
catch last sun ray long sand road
solar powered
…
brown pelicans
soar through clear nothingness
never even blink
…
week old smoke mullet
any day over caught fresh
smelly red salmon
…
Carrabelle station
worlds smallest police office
Clark Kent would be proud
……
grey morning salt marsh
chimney smokes shoreline drift,
blanket none can hold
…
far out grouper trip
waves roll boat, left right left,
hang way over stern
…
Tate’s Hell swamp
bio diverse treasure hides
lost Cebe Tate
…
wasn’t I just here
Bradwell Bay wilderness trek
swampy house of mirrors
…
virgin forests cut
St Joe slash pine sprouts grow
driveway newspapers
…
St Andrews’ wild dunes
turquoise bluestem weave sea oats’
mouse bed and breakfast
…
……
fog curtain falls
though sun above may shroud,
wildflowers light way
…
blue above, dark
blue below, endless blue ink,
run into surf
…
Ochlockonee woodpeckers,
red cockaded long leaf knocks,
developer’s headache
…
Panacea storm,
away floats Posey’s buffet
waves crash, surf and turf
…
blue crab festival
cakes, fat juicy sweet plump
Panacea cooks
……
early beach sunrise
senses way overwhelmed,
nose full of sand fleas
…
cast net sun drying
large mullet cooler packed,
propane gas empty
…
if I were a gopher
gaillardia would be my
favorite home decor
…
Bald Point state park
little butterflies ready,
longways across gulf
…
wet wings crumple
awaiting suns yellow heat
but early bird’s near
……
Marianna caves
stalactites and stalagmites
bat guano grown
…
Chattachoochee
Dozier boys cry out loud
graves need mowing
…
black walnuts
mowing autumn yard becomes
percussion concert
…
pine cones and men
prickly rough old edges
soon fall to the ground
…
wide river slow flow
through blue ridge mounts down
seeds from far away
……
southern catalpa
best fishing bait fattened on
sweet heart shaped leaves
…
old dwarf cypress trees
hollow wide not tall up,
peek through long dark crack
…
Torreya state park
stinking yew precarious
cliffs of extinction
…
Liberty County
big leaf magnolia blossom
nap free in the shade
…
old man grey beard tree
white stubble on thin frost
wakes from winter nap
……
Wewahitchka
Ulee’s Gold bees whir Van’s
‘Tupelo Honey’
…
……
Blountstown relics
sandy river bank buried,
hewn cypress canoes
…
big river mud logs,
fine coffee tables sport
pecky cypress cracks
…
Chipley state park
Florida wonder sight
when water does flow
…
southern hominy
cheese grits stick to my ribs,
bushy beard bib
…
American beech
Cottondale knives cut deep,
lovers hearts
……
holly branch
tighten hooks bow knot line
prime Snead’s fishin time
…
lo moth eyes most all
Hosford’s vast hornbeam groves,
vegan dine
…
red maple blooms out
of season in Florida
sure norm is odd
…
Bristol claim to fame
gopher wood, Noah, catfish
garden of eatin
…
Quincy Florida
tobacco farms support plant
based wealthy lifestyle
……
Gadsden red clay
slip and slide but wont come off
brand new sneakers
…
deep beech magnolia
ravine forest sheaths creek
archer draws his bow
…
winter’s tale tell sign
drive early morning Quincy
oak smoke in my hair
…
Havana city,
hey requires proper
pronunciation
…
wind lifts my hair
witch hazel leaf rustle
hay ride spills my drink
……
Lake Talquin catfish
ten thousand deep blue acres
something big down there
…
gopher stops to stare
pinckneya, headed in
wrong direction
…
gators too busy
with mullet, jump in and swim
Shepherd cold springs
…
canoe up Goose Creek
tie off next overgrown bank
ten foot rattlesnake
…
young children sit still
canoes aluminum seat
gator slithers down
……
St Marks lighthouse
1842 tower
monarch lights atop
…
……
St Marks kayak
winds don’t move lily pads
long log sports two eye
…
carve pumpkin time
when St Marks boats ride low
fat stone crabs weigh out
…
big marine patrol
helicopters buzz searching
Virgil’s small size nets
…
St Marks national
refuge alligators
shih tzu dares too close
…
Poseys oyster bar
best smoked mullet ever
cyclone marinates
……
Newport Florida
St Marks river bridge jump
never mind the sign
…
fresh pine straw mulch
attacked with garden nettle
finger swells red
…
Natural Bridge fight
gators snakes rednecks woo too
newbie swamp yanks
…
Wacissa jams
chickasaw plum pickin time
purple dots my shirt
…
Wakulla Springs cold
hundreds a day jump screaming
contagious goosebumps
……
Wakulla river
stringy hydrilla choke
brim floats on its side
…
red buckeye strobe dance
hummingbird’s wings beat thirty
times per second
…
Ed Ball chains link fence
Wakulla River but state
looks far other way
…
Crawfordville poplar
leaves crunch louder than chips
November football
…
Wakulla Springs lodge
heavy walls built just above
vast deep dark cavern
……
Spring Creek restaurant
plump blue crabs fill me up
bet you catch my yawn
…
old loblolly pine
eagles nest above
fishing hole nearby
…
festive Woodville
rafter Christmas lights hang
up all year around
…
Prince Murat motel
iconic bright neon sign
flickers on no more
…
savory Taiwan
Lucy’s bamboo house 6th
good luck with parking
……
wet slick reddish clay
nothing much moves across
except kudzu
…
Tallahassee
with no flat ground worst place
to learn a stick shift
…
dogwood tree blossoms
spring covers Tally town white
politicians sprout
…
dark laurel cherries
pits Park Avenue side streets
paint old asphalt black
…
territory choice
1824 Tally
new capital town
……
Tallahassee
one eastern state capitol
non-unionized
…
1539
Desoto’s junk camp trash now
Calvin Jones’ treasure
…
Bob Martinez
hispanic governor
state comes full circle
…
Lake Lafayette pines
loved by eagles but not by
developers
…
make up tax shortfall
Tallahassee electric
state’s highest rates
……
street corner twirling
Tennessee crosses Monroe
King Love needed a wife
…
trifold brochure
hear waves smell sea salt
Shell Point daydreaming
…
Grandaddy’s ripe figs
nose against window pane
smell them through the glass
…
Lake Ella fountain
cover walkers with cool mist
sticky duck loo
…
Thomasville Road hunt
old quail plantations
cornbread shot diet
……
Apalachee tribe
fight Spanish explorers
lose to disease
…
when last floret drops
hot summer seed is set
gutter cleaning time
…
universities
two right next to each other
yet so far apart
…
Maclay Gardens lake
old south porch swing picnic,
peel polaroid flap
…
1528
San Marcos de Apalachee
Spaniards slap bit necks
……
palmetto leaves crunch
sandhill ahead, gopher runs
for wiregrass snack
…
SMNWR
unworldly sepia dome
over me palms shade
…
two lane asphalt road
Spanish moss filled live oaks
cover each other
…
not many freezes
but to drive on red clay
any time ice slick
…
leaves flow past so fast
on a still piece of glass
no ripple in sight
……
summers goldenrod
frost kiss seed on winds fly
gather round the hearth
…
old pelican try
keep up with young fast flock
pier piling looks best
…North Florida
Suwannee River Basin
…
Miccosukee squaw
grinds pop ash bark medicine
army doctors laugh
…
slow round down town spin
Monticello rocked till
rails rerouted west
…
elderberry jam
jar lips’ thick purple goo
absurd to lick not
…
school kids spit seeds
watermelon fest contest
pretend its ‘backy’
…
Ray Charles birthplace
easy to miss hard to see
Greenville Florida
……
frogs crickets night song
bugs skeeters fireflies snore
louder than my bride
…
……
rosemary memories
rush back when i rub her leaves
pine lest i forget
…
Blue Springs picnic day
high dive cannon ball splash
sleep well tonight
…
blackberry fingers
creaky bent tree boughs sway
just raked leaf pile jump
…
once sinkhole dump
Madison Blue boils clear
Withlachoochee cold
…
dandelion day
spring air puff sends off wishes
hope day long days last
……
weed fine art
purple green blue above frost
grows tiny toadflax
…
wax myrtle
grey berries line brown stems
pull them hand full off
…
cypress catacombs
sinker logs down limestone deep
Suwannee round them flows
…
Stephen Foster folk
festival porta potty queue
antsy line dancing
…
Stephen Foster
never saw Suwannee river
so far far away
……
shadowy river
Georgia to Gulf 300
crystal springs gleam
…
my bones may creek
but feel young again watching
old man river run
…
deep calls to deep
mysterious need for
swirling water jump
…
clear black river flow
all my worries float away
blind to deep below
…
willow blossoms fall
Florida’s answer to
arctic storm flurries
……
worthless rocky dirt
don’t ring true, Jasper
digs phosphate rock
…
Spanish moss
perfect for pillow stuffin
cept crawly red bugs
…
quick decision
Suwannee river’s raging shoals
shoot no portage now
…
state line gas station
neon citrus cigs pecans
looks better than tastes
…
sulphur water boil
White Springs heal all so say
entrepreneurs
……
boxelder shrub
compound Acer leaves sweet fruit
bird nest surround
…
Magnolia Fest
dueling banjos shuffle shoes
Live Oak’s fallen leaves
…
underground tunnels
Live Oak footsteps just above
spring up high and low
…
cordial Lake City
2000 soldiers dye red
cold Olustee dirt
…
perennial blooms
once again asters paint
new year’s fresh pallet
……
Aunt Aggie’s garden
Lake City animal bones
grow among plants
…
cones dangle from
cypress outstretch limbs
determined squirrel blinks
…
reclaimed water
Gainesville gold quenches thirsty
lush Kanapha
…
swamps color
sunsets over Paynes Prairie
shine orange blue
…
maple family tree
fresh new leaves unfold while
crinkled leaves fall
……
butterfly wings
up walls down halls overhead
can’t count them all
…
……
worlds largest bat house
almost a million black wings
UF skeeters flee
…
butterflies
child’s eyes both light rainforest
Gainesville museum day
…
kids screech right away
mastodon skeleton
greets us inside
…
native persimmon
sweet nutty taste when ripe
this ones bright green
…
UF researchers
invent oj concentrate
safe to drink some say
……
oj concentrate
fresh Florida dollars
packed in a can
…
Devil’s Millhopper
staircase steep sides don’t forget
got to climb back up
…
leaflets three
around pine tree grow vine
arm is now itchin
…
High Springs adventure
underwater grotto black
dive light just went out
…
wildflowers radiance
dark winter day’s
knocks the chill away
……
burgundy up
grey down fifty fifty chance
maple leaves fall
…
Itchtucknee landfill
50’s spring filled junkyard hole
attitudes change
…
deer ford’s clear crossing
lies west highway 27
Itchtucknee secret
…
state bought Itchtucknee
cleared out old trashy mess
floats inner tube sales
…
life’s certainty,
driving you always know when
Perry is close by
……
music sizzles
southern pine bbq fest
Perry’s woodsy spice
…
forest instruments
festival trucks saws logs chains
Perry fall concert
…
October pokeweed
bright red stems dry brown leaves
hang on front door
…
limestone outcrop line
Aucilla’s savage banks
arrowhead in hand
…
mitten thumb leaf
sassafras, tea cures all ails
pass stevia please
……
forest capital
log cabin’s swept sand yard
slitherer seen first
…
……
paper mill tribute
dead black Fenholloway
bleach wont clean this mess
…
divine plant music
tupelo swamp where slough reeds
sing peace be still
…
Lafayette Blue Springs,
picnickers scuba divers both
breathless exclaim
…
Perry and I dive
30 feet down algae bloom
to Peacock’s clear boil
…
civil war gunboat
scuttle under Troy Springs flow
never leaves her post
……
Oleno state park
Santa Fe drops underground
3 mile mystery
…
clear black stream gurgles
whirlpool down karstic earth
maple leaf slow spins
…
Santa Fe
underground flows abrupt end
River Rises up
…
Santa Fe river
floating down leaky inner tube
whats below my feet?
…
Ginnie Springs main sink,
Plato says cave departure
is enlightenment
…
…
adrenaline flow
surges, dark cave water dive
skull crossbones sign
…
red leaflets five
let native vine thrive
its a creeper
…
Dudley Farm state park
rooster crows each misty morn
since 1850
…
wildflowers caretake
sun moon water earth mysteries,
written in seed
…
Paynes Prairie state park
flat savannah wetlands slow
buffalo stampede
……
flower hunter
William Bartram hikes into
where city folk don’t go
…
auspicious start
swamp hike thrash spin thrash again
banana spider web
…
Micanopy
Chief Cowkeeper laughs about
Bartram flower hunt
…
Billy Bowlegs
fearless Micanopy chief
flees for everglades
…
can’t defeat Billy
Washington buys him Nola
reservation
……
Micanopy,
Seminole winds blow way up
on wings of a kite
…
……
dense hawthorn scrub
birds love fruits thickets briars
moonshiners do too
…
winter sea cows here
Fanning Springs swimming rope
doesn’t keep them out
…
bubbles slow rise
deep Manatee Springs flow
divers down exhale
…
native water weed
bacopa creates healing
out of clear blue
…
Crystal River shell
mounds high above coastal swamp
outlast modern walls
……
black gum rises up
down far below my feet in
pond bottom muck
…
Homossa Springs
underwater face to face
manatee whiskers
…
loblolly bay bloom
nature’s exquisite white
scent of beauty
…
found deep spring chimney
clear cold hidden calling
swim here down round down
…
Homosassa
drop my hook under Winslow’s
cabbage palm shade
……
sneeze and you may miss
Yulee sugar mill ruins
Homosassa Park
…
Rainbow Springs
children splash above great
mastodon bones
…
sea cows eat sea grass
couple hundred pounds each day
still they float
…
manatees hate cold
but are not supporters of
more global warming
…
Cedar Keys forest
no more patriarch trees
pencil in hand writes
……
Shrimpaplooza
Homosassa mardi gras
dress like night heron
…
……
Florida earth hues
palm sea sky rain sun muck
primary colors
…
1862
Cedar Keys salt kettles burn
yanks hate smoke mullet
…
walk through mangroves
man pulls cast net up from creek
oyster shells rattle
…
Old Town Old Man
River both share dog day blues
few Fanning Springs jobs
…
Suwannee craft jumpers
each year boaters impaled
by sharp sturgeon spear
……
cormorant stretch
sky reflects motionless wings
bird and branch are one
…
…
Northeast Florida
St. Johns River Basin
…
black mangrove salty slough
shiny mullet dart through out,
pelican pounces
…
words worth a thousand
pictures Keystone Heights shining
Gold Head Branch creek
…
Gold Head Branch state park
lake water level deep blue
till sod came to town
…
Pumpkin Hill Creek
Timucuan flatwoods transformed
to pine reservation
…
wiggle stretch push
deep breath wings flutter back forth
out pops butterfly
…
…
Fort Clinch towers
built of five million red brick
canon never fired
…
…
…
first sulphur this year
drunk with beach verbena wine
cares less about lens
…
Amelia Island
oldest Florida beacon
strobe lights stolen kiss
…
Fernandina Beach
wind blows eight country flags
breeze through history
…
Isle of Eight Flags
boat fresh shrimp festival
more people than prawn
…
locals drive across
pearl white beach, weekend country
fishing line dance
……
David Yulee
father Florida railroads
ties coast to coast
…
Kingsley plantation
Zephaniah Anna Jai
indigo task slavery
…
Big Talbot
ocean graveyard bones line path
skeletons surf
…
Little Talbot
children run way up then
slide dunes back down
…
little boy fingers,
star fish calls pick up
skim cross choppy waves
……
broken sea shells
jingle in my pockets
windowsill trinkets
…
Amelia Island
sand round shorebird nests squeaks,
try to walk quietly
…
red blanket flower
dripping sun paints yellow red
hot drought petal spread
…
Timucuan
six thousand year whispers,
Reunion Park ghosts
…
San Marco Southside
gourmet food hot nightlife
scuba when it rains
……
red mulberries
stained lip neighborhood kids throw
smushy sweet fruit
…
firehouse subs
hunger’s burn quenched in Jax
hook n ladder heros
…
downtown Jacksonville
Treaty Oak park most heard words
jeez whoa wow
…
1960
Donna slaps Jacksonville
hundred mph
…
1964
Dora repeats Donnas slap
125 mph
……
Florida summer
hot romance passion vine
grows longwing leaves
…
……
Homer Winslow
St Johns water color
done, now on to fish
…
Alfred DuPont
defunct banks and pine flatwoods,
markets need paper
…
James Weldon Johnson
leave Cowford, time to grow
NAACP
…
every time i see
rivers green algae
think of all those lawns
…
most rivers flow south
but in Florida
St Johns runs up north
……
Jacques LeMoyne
Spanish torch his map art
Ft Caroline burns
…
Jax westside sports trucks
huge tires booming mufflers
NPR car’s talk
…
Beach Boulevard Jax
lights billboard sign decor
Black Friday year round
…
rogue epazote
spices up refried beans
Jax roadside produce
…
meandering creek
below flowed clear, today
trashed with landfill
…
…
Neptune Beach sand spurs
prick first my toe then finger
next in sandals hide
…
Jax Camp Blanding now
4th largest Florida town,
world war two boom time
…
Ponte Vedra beach
ocean waves tax wealthy
with cut of dune sand
…
Pastorius
German spies land on shore
Ponte Vedra snores
…
bonehead catfish
always take my fishing bait
blood runs down my hand
……
Bidens blooms sway
pushed not by coastal breezes
buzzing swarms of bees
…
……
Mandarin winter
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home
palmetto leaves ink
…
Timucua
gifts Ponce de León presents,
who gives back small pox
…
American linden
basswood flowers task honey
bees to fly high
…
believe it or not
Ripley’s billboard has our eye
double blinking take
…
St Augustine wine
muscadines, homeless drunks
call out to tourists
…
…
Henry Flagler
whistling railroad tracks loud bell
ring coastal marshes
…
Ponce de León inn
voltage lights illuminate
Flagler’s day dream night
…
thanksgiving sunrise
seashore flower petals shine
coffee cup too hot
…
Zora Huston greets
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
old town writing brunch
…
St Augustine
solemn brick cathedral hush
loud tourists yack outside
……
park holiday lights
homeless man’s silent night
plays worn recorder
…
St Augustine
park holiday lights shine bright
she squeezes my hand
…
coquina thick walls
Castillo de San Marcos
tidey flush toilets
…
free pizza samples
cheesy stuff crust smells so good
tastes even better
…
A1A gators
eyes shine so bright at night
cross from tall lighthouse
……
Florida’s maiden
beacon, thirty second flash lights
220 steep steps
…
William Bartram
gator chorus bellow makes
his earth to tremble
…
Bartram gator sketch
send shivers through those up north
wild frontier dreaming
…
Fort Mantazas
Huguenot massacre
blue waters run red
…
barren hot field
bird eyes bull nettle fruit,
fly away shivers
……
salt marsh
cradle for so much life
our pollution kills
…
……
Marjorie Rawlings
Crescent Beach sandy hideout
pestering husband
…
dune blooms bright
red hot solar flares orbit
round brown seed sphere
…
corps of engineers
dredge intracoastal sand out
flows right back in
…
jessamine blooms
violet petal paint another
Princess Place dawn
…
cordgrass needle rush
salt marsh art brushes, stroke
all earths colors
……
steep river bank
dark water down below
cane please don’t break
…
marsh grasses sway,
bog critter shallows wading
or just noisy breeze
…
look up look up!
pelican flock so fast soars
wings never move
…
red bay ambrosia
not so nice despite its name
kills that many trees
…
porch board creaks
fresh cut cedar scent lingers
toe splinter ouch
…
…
capture attempt
pencil flowers beauty with
camera yet fail
…
rotten eggs somewhere
smell first in ground swimming pool
Flagler or Volusia
…
hot summer drought
drains plants green to dry brown
cept climbing aster
…
waning gibbous
moonlight through grey cloud falls
bog violet shines
…
Pellicer Creek
migratory birds read
natures cursive script
……
Pellicer creekside
festival October
winds sting runny nose
…
Faver Dykes churn
monster redfish fight over
grey finger mullet
…
Washington Oaks
horticulture can’t hide
scruby isle natives
…
pufferfish bloat up
season’s holiday meal
tightens my belt
…
spiderworts purple
blossoms clean billowing
roadside car exhaust
…
…
tide’s coquina sand,
maritime hieroglyphics,
ghost crab’s scuttle art
…
kingfishers kee kee
flats tenor boom box
with speedster wings
…
some guests sign
trail’s visitor book with feet
that cannot write
…
Malacompra’s hue
flow from high above
wild foamy sea
…
John James Audubon
needs more hands shooting
Malacompra coots
……
not drawn from nature
shoot then wire bird skins for
Audubon sketch
…
Audubon show and
tell about Florida birds
stewardship sparks
…
rare plant murder
bulldozer smoke covers
dune verbena kill
…
Palm Coast red light cams
spoil Hammock Beach day hike
two second yellow
…
save haiku flash
Florida sky steals my thoughts
before pen marks note
……
long hot days
makes me want to nap while
swamp hibiscus wakes
…
…
…
alphabet knowledge
sanity essential ’N'
Palm Coast neighborhoods
…
Bulow sugar mill
cane syrup goo bubbles pop
coquina sheds burn
…
hot swamp shade
cools bright light reflecting dark
slough flow
…
hickory nuts cover
cabbage palm hammock trail
squirrel digs stone
…
Spanish first British
next Yanks fail bloody fight
Seminole moxie
……
Bulow Creek sugar
Seminoles burn down mill
sweet stinkin black smoke
…
Flagler Beach ocean
Right mama whale pip calf swim
storm seasons over
…
one side of A1A
Seven Eleven’s bright lights
other side dark waves
…
years spent underfoot
wore out sandal lays hidden
life under the pier
…
old vacant beach house
salt crust windows call out
hand prints cover panes
……
xmas shrimp boats
twinkle lights string oceans
dark night horizon
…
summer dunes bee balm
flower face bring kitchen smile,
clear green vase broke
…
Gamble Rogers park
stealthy sea turtle night hunt,
coquina shells crunch
…
grilled burgers thick smoke
waves crash horns honk music booms
A1A weekend
…
endless empty beach
her presence here disappears
as tide footprints wash
……
North Peninsula
sand dune blanket flowers shine
sun hot paints run
…
berry ocean blue
christmas gin scents cool breeze
eastern red cedar
…
mysterious hole
out peeps tiny ghost crab
big bad fight ready
…
pin thistle pricks
reminds us watch where
barefooted we go
…
Right whales name such
with lots of blubber they were
ocean hunt’s right prey
……
turtle egg gull spots
dna silently drains
back out to tide
…
sea turtle genius
when tourist season cranks up
head back out to sea
…
ESA stops
Atlantic Right whale hunting
still nets tangle up
…
Tomoka River
sabal palms reach out over
shimmering moon glow
…
stately Sabal palm
sway, habit hue rustling song
apt a state tree
……
Ormond Hotel
Flagler’s exquisite jewel
doze down for condos
…
ancient cedar tree
crevice critters hidden home
hobo underneath
…
still pond haw tree
berry falls rippled shallows
June bug clatter hush
…
flats churn splash loud
November mullet run
frothing redfish jaws
…
longboard surfer dusk
ten foot hammerhead shark lies
twenty feet off shore
……
black mangrove flats
reds mullet blue crabs trash
under boardwalk
…
Ponce Inlet jetty
oily burnt anglers
tangle lure lines
…
Ponce de León Inlet
lighthouse home to empty
Cuban rafts
…
Ponce Inlet lighthouse
falls into Atlantic surf
first birthday surprise
…
Daytona heartbeat
beach races 500 roar
thunder filled clear sky
……
tonights still ocean
quiet current flows below,
gulls steal my crackers
…
drive in all day church
non denominational
Daytona penance
…
briar’s plump fruit
healing leaves strong medicine
but roundup sprayed
…
bright night dune flowers
million small lighthouse beacons
guide sea turtles home
…
Tomoka River
migratory birds hunt
tourist picnic scraps
……
Port Orange sea grapes
grackles hide behind large
leaves, jump for my chips
…
Cassadaga
spirit crossing makes me wonder
can ghosts get hit?
…
turtle mound midden
New Smyrna largest pile
old oyster shells
…
smilax vine
circles barren white dunes
salty crown of thorns
…
New Smyrna sugar
mill burned down by Seminoles
boiled cane roils tempers
……
cold hot red blue
poured together fashion
lyre leaf sage
…
Deleon Springs
6000 year old canoe
up from bottom boils
…
sabal palm seeds
high hopes for tiny sprout
unfurl skyward
…
Hontoon Island
shells left over from ancient
cook outs pile sky high
…
Barbersville quiet
middle nowhere crossroads
where wild things are
……
zoo yard art
neon bright paints adult smiles
teen nightmares soar
…
Barbersville fall
jamboree’s country cooking
good ole days sure good
…
Sweet Janes whoopie pies
sub sandwich boiled peanuts
hands stick to dashboard
…
steep river bank
slide down slippery sugar sand
tackle box spills out
…
Astor Christmas
no main street no problem
boat float parade
……
Florida summer
cold clear spring just down dirt road,
packed full hot bodies
…
downtown Deland,
Stetson’s dance with quaint ole burg
two lane streets nightmare
…
Blue Springs near Deland
most Florida springs are blue
three claim blue name
…
a George a day
bought labor to cut down trees
two thousand years old
…
orange city blue
sea cows herd hundreds graze
chillin down spring run
……
quiet Wekiva
floats old growth cypress to
sawmills noisy blade
…
fish nibbles my toe
ice cold spring water under
moss laced cypress
…
Lake Griffin
states largest live oaks shade
worlds biggest gators
…
coreopsis
Florida’s wildflower
seed rain sunshine glow
…
Wekiwa Springs
feeds her namesake river
40 mgd
……
almost 8000
lakes here in Florida
countless bunch tadpoles
…
Wekiwa Springs
each year algae greener
houses built next door
…
Florida summer
cold spring moon pie hangout
muffin top swimsuits
…
hiss slobber hiss
that’s not slithering snake
mad goose shakes his head
…
saw mill blades cut
red heart tidewater cypress
Palatka banks grow
……
just a small ditch
to bird bug turtle fish
whole entire world
…
……
car engine noise
roll down window cicada
staccato chorus
…
Ora shoots Flag
Jody cant turn back now
scrub’s a hard read
…
Marjorie Rawlings
writes Pulitzer winner
Cross Creek pen words flow
…
cold dew dirt jewels
so tiny violet seed wakes
thirst quenched
…
consider lilies
lovely in hot dry fields
till we mow them down
……
gorged tree frog song
skeeters gulp all night long
zika hit squad
…
……
Sanford wishes
town never heard of prime time
television crime
…
male ‘alegators’
Bartram writes bellow
as furious bull
…
Winslow river scenes
banks of Enterprise city
buy much fame fortune
…
confused like me
where Enterprise really is
try Lake Monroe east
…
murder in Longwood
meth head kills old senator
burned at the stake
……
coral bean’s spiral
radiance, orange feeding
fritillary just flew
…
……
stout wind today
pull up a feather from sand
out pops seagull
…
cane arrows of Ais
tribe inspired name to Cape
Canaveral
…
Cape Canaveral
lighthouse Fresnel cut glass
rockets red glare
…
1950 first
launch 19 years later
man on moon
…
ninety thousand
Merrit Island acres now
Kennedy Center
……
shrill cry startles
walking endless wet prairie
bird and I both jump
…
……
1986
space shuttle Challenger
explodes with Christa
…
space city USA
Titusville on Indian
River NASA tribe
…
indian blanket
noon’s color filled spread, too
seedy to lie on
…
dune prickly pear
magenta fruits yum jam ripe,
leather gloves missing
…
Cocoa Beach tv
Major Nelson dreaming
of corked bottle
……
black rush tidal creek
grey hunter heron wades
nary a ripple
…
…
…
while human voice fails
ocean’s grandeur story sing
by gulls mourning cry
…
dark muddy trail
leads up swampy creek bank
gators liar nearby
…
seashore pastels
back dune earth hues, purple
tuna in between
…
swimmers excited
shout, dark fins cut through waves
playful dolphins roll
…
red evening beach walk
one step forward one half step
down into wet sand
……
inevitable
wet spring bleeds purple summer
royal thistle blooms
…
under thick pier planks
waves wash away everything
but barnacles
…
sand piper
head in surf tail up high
running down flea snacks
…
ocean salt scrub
take a deep breath hold then
slowly exhale
…
rusty beach park bench
dark night can’t see ocean
sure can hear waves crash
…
Crystal River to I-4 Corridor
Central Florida
…
Ocala’s name
Timucuan spells ‘big hammock’,
in live oak shade
…
moonshining cash
more certain than farming writes
Ocala Rawlings
…
Ocala breezes
dry leaves sing far away sea hymn
gull accompaniment
…
swollen erect growth
spread throughout Florida muck
bulbous cypress knee
…
Marjorie Harris Carr
Ocklawaha barge canal
fight sinks damn locks
……
Silver Springs
thirsty grazing cattle gulp
up the aquifer
…
SR 40 trees
all lean in direction
hurricane art
…
Juniper Springs
drenched CCC tree planters
icy splash revive
…
alligator snack
CCC worker explores
too far down spring run
…
where once stood scrub
small jays flit about in search
dozed down oaks
……
rosemary bald
turkey oak thanksgiving scrub
seasoning color
…
Salt Springs weekend
grill aroma tickles nose
icy goose bumps chill
…
sounding as horses
clomping on our patio
falling coconuts
…
Deland like Chipley
dependent on most roads
that do not go there
…
saw palmetto fronds
thrashing harvest winds blow
imagine black bear
……
red fire ants
crawl way down white cotton socks
before they all bite
…
The Villages
rich wildlife diversity
cougars freely roam
…
lupine pays no mind
rusty sprawling farm fence
grows right through links
…
loud drums somewhere
exquisite staccato beat
cicada tymbals
…
Leesburg final rest
Cummer steaming 104
cypress forest hearse
……
palmetto scrub
autumn grasses breezy sway
big snake one eye shut
…
Dunellion wind
turkey oak leaves rustle
fill woven hammock
…
Yankeetown seafood
festival November catch
nature coast tourists
…
Wildwood
forest of trailers surround
big trucks big macs
…
tell beggar ticks
about time to stop blooming
they just laugh a no
……
Inverness
shell of a good slow pace race
cooter festival
…
Howey in the Hills
orange groves row Florida
sand mountains
…
Apopka success
count wealth in stacks plastic black
nursery containers
…
morning diamonds
sun soon melts all away cept
spiders web trappings
…
tween chemical dumps
phosphate fertilizer spills
Lake Apopka croaks
……
sumac’s green anole
muscles tense eyelid blinks
luna moth lights
…
……
third largest lake
runoff laden DDE
catfish dinner gone
…
Lake Apopka
rise from pollution’s muck
proves life after death
…
recycle
old landfill fabricated
new flower pots
…
Brooksville power base
water management lies in
drowning politics
…
words flee
when i try and use them to
describe wildflowers
……
many lost ponder
direction Brooksville's roads run
even dinosaurs
…
Winter Park sparkles
Tiffany glass flurries light
Morse museum
…
Ocoee fires
right to vote fans hateful flames
neighborhoods ablaze
…
wild pennyroyal
earth sun water crushed fragrance
lures my sweaty nose
…
drive past orange grove
fragrance fills Clermont air
roll car windows down
……
hot dry sands
grow small leaf bee balm tea plant
cooling without shade
…
state flower blossom
most worldwide bought crop, China
born Florida grown
…
Mt Dora fame
downtown city lake, sports
elephant on skis
…
Kissimmee birth
operation drying up
Florida swamps
…
4 million acres
each cost a quarter
Disston drain project
……
Florida home sales
town banks, yards greener with
St Augustine sod
…
Kissimmee stream
Shingle Creek grew everglades
headwater cypress
…
Haines City north
Loughman’s Stills boil pine sap
New York paints away
…
cattle to market
cowboys swing leather braid whips
horseback crackers born
…
Kissimmee sale
dare buy sugar sand land
where sand skinks swim
……
Lakeland’s Colt Creek
Green Swamp flows hefty gar grown
line caught lily pads
…
……
Florida swamps
protect endangered species
cause most folk stay out
…
Catfish Creek scrub
scrub plum scrub morning glory
scrub jay scrub life
…
Lake Kissimmee
King Cow camps fertile graze
lake algae blooms grow
…
Federic Remington
paints cracker cowboys ,words brush
slick Harpers paper
…
Kissimmee pano
sun rises sun sets across
prairies’ endless range
……
Kissimmee River
flow to Lake Okeechobee
citrus crop needs steal
…
Lake Buena Vista
mouse house fills wetland acres
dollars squeaky win
…
Main Street Disney
imagination dreaming
impossible fun
…
Main Street Disney
Starbucks green grass roof
now crows drink sun roast
…
celebration
real mouse house community
Stepford wives’ flavor
……
interstate four
always under construction
faster to walk
…
impatient journey
wish for quiet beach, I-4
truck engines brake
…
Christmas Florida
decorations year around
eyes shift back and forth
…
rattly school bus race
Blithos Crashorama notes
education night
…
halloween fright night
Orlando’s scariest
I-4 inspires
……
Florida orange
1895 freeze burns worse
red hot bon fire
…
afternoon scorcher
lone live oak oasis shades
black asphalt mirage
…
1929
grapefruit drop occurs en masse
med fly buggies hatch
…
Lakeland skate park
throngs surf smooth concrete waves
Emerikas screech
…
Bartow township
sell their soil for eternal
excavation
……
dig ancient seashells
grey prehistoric bones ground
feed green farm future
…
young cypress tree
on old sandy lake bed edge
never seen water
…
Winter Haven home
to George Jenkins’ first Publix store
bogos grandfather
…
first Florida theme
park Cypress Gardens builds
Winter Haven town
…
Plant City plants
strawberry fields forever
plays long south I-4
……
Tampa Bay
home to much sturdier
Sunshine Skyway Bridge
…
Winslow’s Tampa Bay
dawn’s fishing boat wake, braids
water color sky
…
Tampa Bay Hotel
Henry Plant dream comes alive
when lights flicker
…
Davis Island
twenties land boom baby
grows up rich
…
McDill AFB
Tampa soars as ww2
military town
……
ww2 women
showing the world their sparks
shipyard welders
…
Tampa ten thousand
ww2 victory gardens
sprout up cross town
…
Hillsborough, Gold Head,
Myakka, Torreya tracts
state park debut
…
bay life reflects
tomato fields runoff
phosphate solution
…
old cohiba wrap
ferments three times dark musky
Ybor leaf shop
……
Gaia said
let there be cypress swamp and
there was black water
…
tomato pickers,
chips, sand, pesticide
INS wants you
…
just after christmas
strawberry fields full bright
bottoms up blue jeans
…
cast your mullet net
anywhere across Tampa Bay
don’t need other side
…
Aguila’s cuban
nothing else comes close except
packed shop patrons
……
I-295
construction ever since
Manasota sack
…
Hillsborough River
water five million folk
Green Swamp seepage
…
cypress needles
crumple up in your hand
scent of state’s history
…
Florida rapids,
Hillsborough, wide Suwannee ,
interstates too
…
downtown Tampa
runoff filled dark water flows
outgoing tide dyes
……
Clearwater downtown
hair stands up on my neck near
Dianetics tower
..
Clearwater Beach
sunbathing picnickers relish
emerald clear water
…
seasons lights twinkle
LEDs can’t hold candle
to seashore sparkles
…
giant sponge bed
wooden plank dock, baklava,
Tarpon Springs spread
…
peek behind clouds
full moon light blankets ocean
currents white flow
……
waves, sand, shells ahead
i run through beach dune flowers
loud screams sand spurs
…
splashy beach shower
get more sand on your feet
than you rinse off
…
New Port Richey creek
gonna try to pronounce
Pithlachascotee
…
on a good day
Highway 19 only jams
till just after dusk
…
Tocobaga tribe
Bay natives hit with small
pox and musket balls
……
Wesley Chapel
Tampa bedroom pray for more
wide lane roadways
…
Florida tree troupe
pine tree, wax myrtle, live oak,
saw palmetto
…
native forests
pine cypress oak criss cross cut
building homes up north
…
peppergrass days
picking spicy seeds stuck
way between my teeth
…
Dade Battlefield
Seminole kill 100 U.S.
sky blue coats turn red
……
General Jesup calls
peace talk, trick Osceola
sneak and tie him up
…
great white father
has sent me here to punish
Harney brags to Noles
…
Weeki Wachee
underwater mermaid bares
cool clam shell wardrobe
…
rain buckets rain
saw palmetto flatwoods flood
great steam shovel dig
…
Port Richey salt springs
320 feet down
below kayak glide
……
Anclote Key Preserve
vast blue ferry trip cross
bring your own water
…
Honeymoon Island
rare shells emerald blue gold
just bottle cap ping
…
coral gemstone,
Honeymoon Island white sand
hides black fossilized rock
…
bait fish millions
waist deep beyond sandbar
just past stingrays
…
Caladesis white
dunes sparkle sand diamonds
highest grade beach
……
gossamer blur
lady beetle swift flight light
on plump aphid
…
……
Alafia
Lonesome phosphate mine restored
pushing up daisies
…
St Petersburg
high density culture mix
color of shells
…
Tropicana field
manta or devil rays
twain catch contender
…
stars up there
watch blanket flower
light night earth
…
Brandon
huge flag highway reminder
confederacy
……
Apollo Beach power
plant herds of sea cows swim
tourists bay delights
…
Little Manatee
rich biodiversity
muck blooms horse paddies
…
Ruskin clam jam,
tomatoes, grown fish caught in
marl muck and mangroves
…
Cockroach Bay Preserve
Spaniards opine horseshoe crabs
giant swimmer bugs
…
Madira Bikel
Tocobaga ceremonial
highrise prelude
……
Gamble Plantation
slow antebellum memory
Palmetto’s front porch
…
Bradenton beaches
and Tropicana orange juice
snowbird bait
…
wiry cat brier
scampers up tall longleaf pine
hold tight sharp tip thorns
…
nights first ocean catch
dark sea below he reaches
down half eaten fish
…
Cortez fishing
festival schools shimmering
with grouper groupies
……
dead watch dinners meal
river bank Linger Lodge
critter menu stuff
…
early morning dew drop
moistens flame hibiscus scent
ant bites my nose
…
blanketflower fire
late noon rain shower fuels
bright burn year round
…
greatest show on earth
lies in ocean waters just
off Ringling seawall
…
Sarasota cluck
sustainable town
hen eggs everywhere
……
dark motionless marsh
hard to tell where reeds end
reflections begins
…
……
Longboat Key
find gold under dusk’s sky in
ebbing ocean tide
…
saw palmetto gives
food fiber medicine
but don’t let you through
…
Highland Hammock park
Florida’s oldest preserve,
rugose history book
…
Lake June winter
rarest plants, wildflowers, dig
desert barrens home
…
Myakka River
become lost in currents swift
wild scenic flow
……
asters mark spot
wildflower treasure chest
unburied sun gems
…
Oscar Scherer park
scrub oak flatwoods guard threatened
tiny scrub jays
…
Stump Pass Beach state park
two treasured colors here
emerald surf, gold coins
…
flats fishing
where tarpon jump, my heart
jumps way higher
…
childhood memories
flowers complex color paint
dune kaleidoscope
……
Don Pedro Island
sea oats muhly grass beach mouse
isles true treasure
…
far away lights
dance cross nights horizon
shrimp boats twinkling stars
…
strangler fig shade
may well be highest rated
spf sunscreen
…
above mangrove green
below cedar blue
lies yaupon red
…
…
salty creek too
shallow cept for fiddlers bait
sly monstrous flounder
…
…Sebastian Inlet to Ft Myers to Key West and back
South Florida
…
something bout salt air
take a deep breath, hold a bit
exhale worries gone
…
Sebastian Inlet
snook, reds, mackerel, blue
pelicans big gulp
…
Sebastian Inlet
tide flows so fast dolphins
surf churning waves
…
Indian River
fertile estuarine grass beds
lake O assaults
…
Indian River
algae green gobs not so sweet
politics revealed
……
salt marsh
biodiversity opp
drained, filled and killed
…
pepper tree blossom
windy rainstorm’s approach
twirl white petals fall
…
river stewards
Rockledge says no to summer
death by fertilize
…
Melbourne seashore
Ponce de León foot makes first
euro boot print
…
sweet gum confused
sometimes with maple cept
hard pointy balls
……
Sebastian,
Mel Fisher’s gold museum
my fantasies
…
nature graffiti
paint weathered A1A sidewalks,
weedy wildflowers
…
Eau Gallie evicts
Zora Hurston as she pens
Of Mules and Men
…
Palm Bay
swamp drained, citrus crop planted,
East Coast Railroad haul
…
no one likes a prick
though inside cacti harshness
lies soft tender flesh
……
Grant Seafood Fest
where fish fillets meet farms
corn meal deep fry
…
glass door ajar
frisky cat runs in from back
patio mint plant
…
sea grapes
burgundy red so good jam
sticky to pick
…
Miccos blolly
colors red fruits, white crested
pigeon favorites
…
dune daisy
sunlight smile, at set still shines
through dusks dark fog
……
Fort Pierce grows
ivory bush coral rock
off sunrise seashore
…
Zora Hurston lies in
garden of heavenly rest
her writings live on
…
Highwaymen paint
exotic Florida scenes
upson board twenty
…
Alfred Hair shot,
bar brawl bullet kills great
Florida painter
…
26 painters
native Florida sold from
US 1 roadside
……
river's sandy bank
sit down wiggle toes splish splash
dark water polish
…
twenty dollar art
for other side RR track
adds up to a stack
…
Okeechobee town
namesakes hurricane killer
1928 cat 5
…
catches little eye
child squats reach twist pull,
gaillardia picked
…
though sticky not
strangler fig web traps even
tallest of trees
……
Lake Okeechobee
whats that huge circular hole
in state map middle
…
sky is a canvas
water and sunlight paint,
sabal palm the brush
…
Yeehaw Junction means
wolf in Seminole speak,
sneeze might miss town
…
Lake Wales Bok tower
shades endangered plants wildlife,
rare celebration
…
little sand swimmers
skinks along rosemary dunes
stops toll road projects
……
Sebring’s dry sand lakes
diversity evaporates
with sinking water
…
all these people
and lawns and hot asphalt
water drink
…
Maxwell’s House of Fruit
family citrus packing plant,
Avon Park squirrel feed
…
needed smile
squat amongst trail weeds,
dig earth’s warm embrace
…
Tohopekaliga
St Clouds big bass lake
needs big name
……
Florida turnpike
pine, maple, pine, pine, maple
cypress, pine, cows, pine
…
Myakka City
Madagascar lemurs learn
what some grown men can’t
…
red bugs home
fuzzy wuzzy Spanish moss
itchies crawl
…
Peace River shark teeth,
Arcadia rodeo,
just might move out here
…
bobber live bait stash
favorite drink cooler iced
don’t need bp meds
……
Punta Gorda
cyclone Charlie’s cat 4 winds
huff and puff and blow
…
fall migration flock
choicest condos now packed full
yankee snowbirds nest
…
leaf changes hue
local dialect shifts too
color to cullah
…
cabbage a cookin
always high up hammock palms
tip top of the tree
…
shell covered shoreline
old man slowly reaches down
something sharp in shoe
……
Charlotte Harbor,
mangrove bayou residents
fish, birds, crabs, snakes
…
Gasparilla Isle
Fish House island floats time’s tide
Calusa to now
…
Cayo Costa state park
snorkel out in dolphin pods
shallows tour guides
…
Fort Myers home of
emerald brown waterway
Caloosahatchee
…
Calusa
fish Caloosahatchee long
before brown water
……
gumbo limbo
peeling orange tan bright bark
sunburnt tourist tree
…
citrus runoff dyes
Caloosahatchee river
warm split pea soup
…
rich Billy Creek
Bowlegs cash buys surrender
ten thousand dollars
…
invasive plant
Firestone sends small banyon tree
rubber sprouts
…
Thomas Edison
plants small banyan, today
tree tops an acre
……
something biting me
still Bunche beach tonight i just
can no-see-um
…
Six Mile Cypress
air plant orchids frame boardwalk,
slow slough flows on
…
beautiful plumage
but everything has to eat,
feathers float dark slough
…
smile for an instant
heron lands on cypress knee
gator jumps, bird gone
…
Sanibel causeway
early birds flock, too few
leeward tables and grills
……
Lakes Park
rock quarry aviary
birds really dig
…
…
…
coffee, sand, beach, waves
sloshing, crashing, ebb and flow
where is the restroom?
…
broken shells
skeletons of souls gone on
crunch under feet
…
motionless wood stork
cruise altitude now reached
downhill on my bike
…
Fort Myers Beach
jet skies race back forth,
and back and forth
…
jingle shells, blue waves,
white sand, soft wind whispers,
never need to leave
……
bleached sea star
beach sand holds for next tide
light forever dimmed
…
……
bridge to Captiva
us kids point out window
big hammerhead shark
…
Sanibel Isle
sweet salty sunrise gifts
sand spurs in my foot
…
shoreline studio,
surf salt sun wind and sand
shells art and artists
…
bacon and maple
glaze doughnuts first bite better
than last chomp
…
gonna go fishing
ding darling mullet schools
sand gnats chase us home
……
brief lives we live
footprints fade tide of time
waves crest under roll
…
Bubble Room cafe
bizarre experience with food
waiters just as strange
…
fly in drive in
flocks of snow birds come to roost
Venice winter
…
burrowing owls dig
Cape Coral dredged marsh fill
wee bitty hoots
…
Cape Coral
coconut festival
November nuts
……
Alva Florida
ten foot tall strawberry man
too big to pick
…
elusive orchid
dark pop ash frames white
Corkscrew’s ghosts
…
flower petals
mere quiet says so much more
than yack yack crow’s bark
…
Labelle Florida
armadillos race to swamp
Cabbage festival
…
sky bright hot sunshine
cloudless fat droplets fall
Florida for ya
……
sometimes it is not safe
under coconut trees
without a hard hat
…
US sugar fields
Clewiston, America’s
schmaltzy enigma
…
grey morning dew
cover fresh fallen seed,
opens life window
…
Belle Glade harvest
shames modern day slavery
food field bent backs strain
…
lovely produce
seersucker shopper never saw
torn picker clothes
……
no produce label
says vegetables may be picked
by young children
…
Pahokee field work
trains at least sixty young men
pro football league
…
white spray clouds
tomato field tractor tracks
pickers shake their clothes
…
Immokalee
Seminole for ‘my home’, in
English ‘tomato’
…
Bonita Springs
somewhere between Corkscrew green
Estero Bay blue
…
…
snakes chiggers ticks gnats
pickers may or may not
get a cold shower
…
……
water bug
dancing, swamps dark clear flow
over big eyed fish
…
Everglades Wonder
Gardens for real time travel
to 1930s
…
young Marjorie
wades into ecology
Bonita Springs star
…
Barron Collier
build a trail and get largest
county named for you
……
wild cypress slough
short verse flows off my tongue
usually silent
……
summer conference time
government buys preserves
Marco conference halls
…
nary better place
Marco offers beach escape
skip those seminars
…
Estero Bay
estuarine aquatic preserve
gopher high dune digs
…
cicada song
amplify deafening
silence
…
Marco Island
clear blue shore far enough from
Calooshatchee stink
……
Koreshan state park
built as new Jerusalem
earth stuck in a sphere
…
best x-mas scheme
red Brazilian pepper wreaths
sell to northerners
…
Mound Key state park
still need canoe to visit
shell midden isle
…
Lovers Key state park
Ft Myers Beach answer to
Ding Darling’s charm
…
dune daisy
ocean breeze rocks me gently
need no lullaby
……
migratory birds
old folk come south each winter
leave a lot of mess
…
Florida sky blue,
palm tree green, billow cloud white
bright coastal hues
…
Delnor Wiggins pass
pure white sand foot massage
rough coral reef
…
Cocohatchee river,
condominium dock oils
mangrove water color
…
‘chee’ is understood
to be translated ‘little’
Creek language
……
remembrance,
childhood beach vacation
spurs parts forgotten
…
not surprisingly
‘wee’ is translated from Creek
water’s meaning
…
mere speculation,
Florida bald cypress
knotty knees role play
…
axe artist chops knees
NPR interviews withered
cypress peddler
…
when waves wash in,
jumbling up jingle shells,
year round noel
……
ten thousand islands
gators snakes mosquitos too
priceless orchids guard
…
…
…
red mangroves protect
birds, fishes, estuarial homes,
wild ocean waves
…
Fakahatchee Bay
known maxim is shoot quick soon
as your secret found
…
October beach fun
necessities include sand
witches, sun scream cream
…
Florida panther,
unlike their cousin bobcats,
have three foot long tails
…
Florida’s state
wild beast resplendent panther
Puma concolor
……
miss photo opp
rare red bloom grows next
to fire ant mound
…
dark water plunge
letting go of live oak limb
tiny acorn plops
…
least fifty species
native orchids watch over
Rookery Bay birds
…
haiku words seem lost
unspeakable beauty seen
in orchid language
…
Naples Florida
water rich seafood feeds
millionaire city
…
…
Everglades plumage
fashion design demanded
death of fair snowy
…
…
…
Collier Seminole,
royal palms shade native tribe
war burial ground
…
Fakahatchee strand
cypress palms bromeliads
warm wet womb of life
…
not a breeze in sight
but grasses sway dancing with
glades clear slow flow
……
Everglades City
Smallwood Store kelpies haunt off
Chokoloskee Bay
…
Everglades seafood
festival each year may cook
best mullet dinner
…
…
wild tamarind
fragrant puffs dainty flower
butterfly host
…
…
…
sawgrass forever
11000 square miles
mucky flooded glades
…
fourteen feet three inches
record Florida gator
Lake Washington kill
…
heaviest gator
on Florida record
1000 pounds plus
…
big rattler slithers
prefer not to make him mad
so close to my feet
……
U.S. spent
hundred million dollars try
to kill Seminoles
……
Marjory Stoneman
Douglass rejects swamp names,
but River of Grass
…
‘there are no other
everglades in entire world’,
M Stoneman Douglass
…
swamp belch echoes up
something eaten now so ripe
purple iris bloom
…
virgin forests cut
timbers weight count more each day
steam whistles blow
…
Everglades Preserve
River of Grass flowing gulf,
embryo of life
……
not quite a broiler
but tastes as good, plump ibis
Chokoloskee chicken
…
…
…
algae fills mud hole
gators growl when they yawn
chomp swallow belch burp
…
Seminole nation
Abiaka leads warrior Noles
miry swamp ebbs
……
summer breeze deep breath
choke on melaleuca scent,
rot potato mush
…
Big Cypress park tale,
Ochopee has been cut
sharp tooth criss cut crisis
…
Weston master plan
impresses money magazine
vote best town in Florida
……
Amelia Earhart
blows last farewell kiss waves from
Hialeah takeoff
…
deep down in rich dark
muck lie roots growing up
high into sky blue
…
Hialeah race track
pink flamingoes, slim grey hounds,
quarter horses run
…
weekend fish fry
hush puppies fried crisp, brim,
pull out ole church fan
…
hot feet on road
Henry Milander pool near
run legs run
……
my fearless aunt flies
on palmetto expressway
her car horn so loud
…
afternoon
equipment test Milander
air raid sirens sound
…
JFK library
year two thousand time capsule
wonder did it open
…
arroz con pollo
friend Alex’s mama cook
house smells so yummy
…
still drool over those
soft sweet hamburger buns
royal castle steams
……
Palm Springs Junior High
three mile bike ride against
stout winds each way
…
Everglades east edge
Meadowlane elementary
love safety patrol
…
44th place canal
one boy caught long hydrilla
dark water coffin
…
Mom and Ms Hilda
are out by fence with tears
JFK is shot
…
clear river under
drive over steel zoom bridges
Miami childhood
……
Miami dolphins
undefeated football champs
say ole timers
…
dew drips down grey sky
thirsty flower petals spread
acid rain gag
…
Florida rockland,
concrete jungles urban bed
of endemic eden
…
Dade County hammocks
rich mature mahogany
gone
…
Virginia Beach was
Dade County park departments
colored only shore
……
windy mangroves sway
squeaking wader bird calls out
rubbing branches tune
…
tree top alien
strangler fig grows canopy
way down ground
…
flowers and kids
they can come from same clan
yet be so different
…
Monkey Jungle
where humans are caged
monkeys run wild
…
sixties decade
Australian pine already
lines dug canals
……
resort Miami
immigrants world round create
sun economy
…
tarpon mullet jump
dark black canal water flows
through snake filled culverts
…
voices
Haitian language fills dusk air
night boat mystery
…
my friends parents
houseboat life fix leaks
sw canal street
…
Miami vice
80s Sunday eve with
Crocket and Tubbs
……
Tamiami canal
light reflect shell cracker gold
cane pole wiggler hooked
…
can see shell cracker
swim canal bottoms along
Tamiami trail
…
Australian pine
winds solemn melody
trees bane atone
…
Coral Gables
Miami hurricanes home
football cyclones both
…
Kendall Florida
hurricane Andrew takes an
eye for city heart
……
cat five Andrew
devastates Homestead and
Elliot Key
…
broken egg shell
alligator nest season
spring forth reptiles
…
adaptation
Miami spins shades of
opportunity
…
30 billion
dollars worth damage done,
hurricane Andrew
…
South Florida grows
plant nurseries sprout about
fertile wet homestead
……
Key Largo 48
Bogart and Bacall survive
shoot the storm Rocco
…
piers red flag whip
loud as frothy waves do roar
pull hoodie up
…
tortoise bones
halls walls rooms roof spacious
fire ants castle
…
Islamorada
kingfish, baseball great, Sears and
royal color
…
night scuba
something taps my dive mask
cuda wants my eyes
……
shark thrashes about
bump bite approach while stealthy
cudas silent
…
Flagler’s railroad stone
dig Windley Key coral
fossils reemerge
…
Lignumvitae Key
Matheson Hammock secret
toni hideaway
…
always here along
Miami Beach wears different
colors every day
…
Long Key state park
worlds sought after sport fish
swim round small isle
……
all my worries blow
away on salt laden breeze
cept whats for lunch
…
Curry Hammocks thatch
palms cover tropical isle
still need suntan screen
…
mangroves
clean water for
coral reefs
…
Bahia Honda
confused eyes distinguish not
ocean from the sky
…
la mar tells us
about secrets of life
waves ebb and flow
……
Zachary Taylor
builds Key West fort to control
pirates smugglers thugs
…
to have and have not
tells real story of many
conchs and crackers
…
Hemingway house
six toed cats drink water
out old urinal
…
Key West lighthouse
salty brick tower
beacon no more
…
grilled spiny lobster
butter marinated stone crab
Key West tummy ache
……
De Atocha
Spanish galleon motherload
emeralds still there
…
Santa Margarita
silver bronze gold fortune
Mel Fishers finds
…
Henrietta Marie
ivory laden ship drowns
deep blue Mel hunt
…
fleet Espana
Nuestra, spice jewels silver
gold charms sea bottom
…
deer no taller than my shin
running wild across Big Pine
stop go stop traffic
……
lots of bridges
connect keys like dots
sun kissed pearls
…
35 hurricane
swallows Flager rail tracks
CCC to work
…
inkwood tree bark fruit
favorite dye ingredients
West Indies folk art
…
labor day thirty five
hurricane death toll topped
four hundred souls
…
Marathon seafood
festival music fishing
second largest Key
……
thirty five cyclone
wind estimates
two fifty mph
…
fishfuddle tree
aka Jamaican dogwood
strong fish poison
…
Key West houses
shipwreck salvage all decked out
furniture spice rum
…
poison ivys'
relative poisonwood tree
causes itchies too
…
nineteen nineteen storm
floods Key West with death
wrecks salvage havoc
……
Hauling Anchor
Winslow Homer sends senses
bon voyage
…
afternoon nap
low sun shadows through glass door
ask self noon or night
…
afternoon nap
Key West time says play me
Margaritaville
…
Dry Tortugas
wet Garden Key coral heads
surround brick fort
…
no bridges here
Tortugas fly in
if you get seasick
……
Fort Jefferson
no need for soldiers now
cause crocs swim round moat
…
afternoon taste
skin burns from sun salt drops
off into my eyes
…
southern line end
Key West close to Cuba as
Hemingway could get
…
Oleta River
Biscayne Blue Marlin for food
picnic grill option
…
pond apple fruit
hungry alligators love
they cant pucker up
……
storm sky flashes
beach reflection in leaf veins
mirrors life
…
Tequesta tribe would
catch heck today eating
sea turtle eggs
…
black drink chug
yaupon holly Tequesta
en-lightening drink
…
Barnacle state park,
Commodore Monroe waste not with
salvaged shipwreck wood
…
Coco Barnacle
Grove’s hubbub of fashion glitz
meets old Florida
……
Seaquarium
out Rickenbacker causeway
as fun as the beach
…
Cape Florida
1825 lighthouse
lights path to freedom
…
Key Largo hammock
wild cotton crocodiles dark
mahogany quay
…
just wrote ku
to describe sea sky stormy surf
run now from lightning
…
Pennekamp state park
rainbow colors glisten cross
reef redeemed
……
glass bottom boat ride
over color filled reefs
dramamine time
…
they call it jewfish
now say goliath grouper
wont fit in jon boat
…
Biscayne Bay both
coral reefs and condos are
high density homes
…
Deering seafood fest
junkanoo jammin ocean
food on Biscayne Bay
…
barracuda
imagine a swim alongside
torpedo with mouth
……
long barracuda
swim all around Stiltsville
splashes wooden jon boat
…
front porch salty swim
just need a boat to come home
to Stiltsville
…
Carl Fisher,
John Collins steambucket up
Miami mangroves
…
flag drops horses dogs
run really fast on a track
folk do too to watch
…
sweet juicy red
grandpas pomegranate tree
can taste in my dream
……
Fisher Island
per capita income star
must get an invite
…
Carl Fisher’s
Rosie the elephant
big advertising
…
Overton labor
back broke muscle behind
Venetian Islands
…
Little Havana
Calle Ocho festival
morning noon and night
…
yuca frita
much better than french fries
con limon y sal
……
hot empanadas
makes my mouth water stuff
spice meat vegetables
…
oceans fog hides
all but present moment
no future no past
…
Little Haiti
some call Lemon Street sweet
with graffiti art
…
thyme chilis plaintains
chayote squash yucca root
drool even more
…
Haulover Beach
sunburnt butts everywhere cause
clothing optional
……
Miami Gardens
dolphins play in sun life
seashore miles away
…
Liberty City
2 Live shakes whole world
Miami hips hops
…
Miami Heat
pick up slack for local
pro football
…
26 cyclone
motion pictures end for
Hollywood dreamers
…
Florida springtime
seasons when it is not hot
lasts about two days
……
ocean evening
dark on horizon
sunset or storm
…
Danish immigrants
name their tomato plant
town Dania
…
log near
edge of pond
has eyes
…
William Lauderdale
Seminole land forts built
stays put builds more
…
immigrant seed
finds a distant shore offers
chance for new life
……
whiskered manatees
Arawak name for great breast
love warm effluent
…
……
Ft Lauderdale yachts
line downtown new river
high speed rail blockade
…
Flamingo Gardens
Davie park full of pink
long legged birds
…
Loxahatchee
waters Jonathan Dickinson
orchids air plants trees
…
John D MacArthur
tropical mangrove forests
Palm Beach urban gem
…
Hugh Taylor Birch park
lush green hammocks flourish
in concrete jungle
……
Coconut Creek’s
butterfly house world’s largest
kaleidoscope
…
…
…
water ebbing flow
bring new life in encounters
with currents change
…
John Lloyd state park
bring scuba or snorkel gear
surreal beach bottoms
…
Pompano Beach
hungry surf jacks wait to pounce
wayward sand fleas
……
living salt life
Florida Pompano
beach seafood fest rocks
…
Hillsboro Inlet
Pompano Beach lighthouse home
twenty five mile view
……
South Florida’s
model for urban land use
Boca Raton plan
…
1908
pineapple blight dashes hope
of Yamato town
…
suns flames fly to earth
eaten by green spring forth
in flames once more
…
Delray Beach
long lines across town wait for
daily methadone
…
whiting run shallows
catch them off shore
beach side of surfers
……
under mangroves
scurrying crab dimly seen
in cosmos depths
…
Boyton Beach
railroad hauls out citrus
rails back dollars
…
wood storks
long grey bamboo like legs
bend other way
…
Lake Worth Florida
and neighbors got rich
picking railroad citrus
…
to know a flower
is to know complexity
something so simple
……
bad blues cure
pick and kiss gaillardia
lipstick red petals
…
summer and summer
summer and a little spring
Florida seasons
…
mower man monet
cut weeds not flowers
HOA’s ire
…
West Palm Beach bright night
German subs use city lights
to sink freighters
…
pigeon plum fruit
ferment on short tree drunk
mockingbirds swagger
……
mosquito fleet
civil air patrol buzzes
world war two coast
…
potato rot stink
either pantry or next door
melaleuca bloom
…
Riveria Beach
old Conchs eat green mangoes
weave thick straw hats
…
peels like birch bark
easy to keep kids busy
melaleuca tree
…
Flagler builds more
rails tracks tourist grand hotels
birth of Palm Beach
……
Flagler builds West Palm
Royal Poinciana
exotic staff wait
…
Flagler’s steam engines
create wealth land demand
monopoly green
…
plastic beach chairs
colors of a living reef
up on high dry land
…
Jupiter lighthouse
sits high atop a sandy dune
cyclone bullseye
…
Florida elm
baskets hoops lids barrels
wooden dollar deals
……
Port Salerno
seafood fest across deep water
mermaids skipper yachts
…
Atlantic green
huge leatherback loggerhead
Avalon’s egg layers
…
Ft Pierce inlet park
volleyball swimsuits fish rods
sport salt life logos
…
Urca de Lima
too much gold on board to float
in hurricane
…
lantana colors
love to crush leaves and sniff
invasive memories
……
Savannahs Preserve
too wet for homes but not for
endangered species
…
freshwater marshes
long for April thunderstorms
lightning fire all
…
shoreline shadows
palm trees long wooden docks
waves can’t wash away
…
St Lucie Inlet
mangroves birds tart wild limes
fruits of kayak trip
…
quiet cypress swamp
sandals weight snaps twig
crow barks three times
……
Stuart seafood fest
blue water treats grilled fried
or blackened reds
…
…
…
Seabranch Preserve
destined to be a golf course
now coastal scrub park
…
coastal strand
dune forests cut not for
timber but condos
…
Port St Lucie
biomedical research
can see future cures
…
rattler snake eye peeks
below saw palmetto brush
feet shuffle past
…
split splat what was that
thank goodness for windshield
love to hate love bugs
…
…
green anole dewlaps
unaware of soon capture
unimpressed racer
…
…
…
roaring twenties
land boom explodes state says
no income tax
…
hurricane storms
freezes nature great resets
for Florida
…
alligators
eat for thirty or more years
anything with eyes
…
Florida police
depression era borders
close to unemployed
…
few of many
early Florida shipwrecks
have been explored
……
fickle Fay cant make
her mind up floods just about
all of Florida
…
Florida counties
67 in all some
big others small
…
two aquifers
underground rock sponges
Floridan, Biscayne
…
turned round hickory stick
thirty five different fields
spring training ball
…
Ponce De Leon founds
new Florida industry
moo moo moo cows
……
twenty thousand head
cows graze Florida in
1700
…
2015
one million seven hundred thousand
Florida cows
…
long tall fishing pier
incoming waves smack pilings
falling dominoes
…
shallow tidewater
ripples in surfs surface
expose sandbar waves
…
motionless sea gull
frothy surf swirls around
till i come near
……
waves so far out
till they break up against
cant out run surf
…
pelicans soar
two feet above sea
feathers all puff out
…
emerald white sea foam
coquina sand churn but
colors never bleed
…
sweet fresh squeeze
mornings back yard fresh pick full
pulp and small hard seeds
…
no ice on windshields
to scrape off my car just
lots of love bugs
……
want to feed gull
small chip but theres fifty
more behind him
…
Winn Dixie charcoal
strike long wooden match
wind blows it out
…
watch young man struggle
changing soggy diaper
glad my kids are grown
…
binoculars up
most popular exercise
bird watching old folk
…
picnic table hunt
gotta find one closest
to open bathroom
……
Hebrew Nationals
grilled hotdogs in soft bun
ouch burn my tongue
…
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