IT'S TRUE, HE WAS A BOY WITH A GO-CART WHO DROVE BY
Heidi Lynn Staples
it’s true, he was a boy with a go-cart who drove by
faster than elevated coastal ridges and
dry, sandy soil conditions. i blushed
pinelands and pine
scrub. the words between us like nonnative fish
less successful in invading.
like manatees at a significant
risk from pollution and other disturbances
the touch between us like surfaces
of some lakes and ponds concealed
by rafts of floating lily
water lettuce, duckweed
he carved our initials into a cypress tree.
the days were conifers that lose their foliage
in sawgrass marshes, where they may form
characteristic domes, in a time when time was
a mucky terrain, in swamps along river floodplains.
vast underground waterways have formed beneath
much of the state. they are also home.
~~~~~
Heidi Lynn Staples' third book, I, Jellyfish is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press. Currently, she lives in Athens, Georgia, completing a PhD in English literature with a focus on poetry and environmental awareness.