(at Lettuce Lake Park, Tampa)

Spatterdock
and water lilies
a swamp forest of cypress,
hardwood hammocks
and pine flatwoods
kayaks and alligators
i’m not such a nature person
other than everybody is nature
and all my other everybodies
have flown the coup
(temporarily i hope)
my granddaughter phones
that i’m living in paradise.
Like the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock
i’m starved for affection

Again today 
an osprey soars above 
with singular focus on the surface
of the river, and then it dives,
feet outstretched and yellow eyes
sighting straight along its talons
in its hunger for live fish,
Paradise is not for everybody