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Four Poems of the Southeast

Updated on September 30, 2018
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Richard F. Fleck is author of several books of poetry but one of his favorite forms is Asian haiku which he uses to capture spirit of place.

Corkscrew Swamp

Three Poems of the Southeast (Poems)


Southern Appalachian Spring

Maiden's hair fern leaves

drip onto moist ground,

where fiddlehead clusters push

through dead brown leaves,

and spongy moss oozes on stones

thick with pale-green lichen far

above a very cloudy valley

with wisps of mist slithering

upslope to join rain clouds

that hover over rocky summits

looming above warm and humid

forests alive with chirping frogs.


Swamp Sanctuary

All is movement here,

slow and gentle

whether strands of moss

in a swamp breeze or

fronds of fern dancing

with a cobweb or

the flow of clearwater

toward the sea,

and then a heron lands

spreading his delicate toes

with a poetry of steps==

each step forward cautiously

and gingerly as possible.

Slowly he spreads his toes,

withdraws one step for firmer

footing and then lurches

forward to catch some

squirming insect in his bill

before flying skyward

silhouetted with strands of

bald cypress muffling the distant

notes of a springtime warbler.


Banyan Sun

Giant white oaks and

dangling Spanish moss

droop with wild pineapples

and bright pink orchids

and spralling vines of

strangler figs.

Twisting snake-like

roots thicken into smooth

trunks of banyan trees.

Royal palms rustle in a

balmy wind from a warm

sea of glistening lime,

and gumbo limbo's smooth

and curving trunk points its

branches high in a purple sky.

Dark sap oozes from poison wood,

while a black alligator with yellow

eyes basks in humid heat.

Roseate spoonbills glide over

a misty marshy lake flapping their

wings in a tropical setting sun,

as glades of swaying sawgrass

redden in a timeless silence.


While many people associate the banyan tree with Asia, particularly India, it is plentiful in south Florida as well.


Flickering Swamp Lights

There's a certain amount

of comfort in seeing those

house lights flicker

a few miles across the

swamp knowing they're

not alligator eyes reflecting

a shimmering moon.

Who knows how many

water moccasins there

are in spongey wetlands

in-between or how many

quick pygmy rattlesnakes

crawl on those few hummocks

of southern pines and live oaks,

but there's a certain amount

of comfort seeing those house

lights as, hopefully, ours are

a bit of comfort to them out there

until the gradual coming of dawn.




Travel

Have you ever taken a tour of a southern swamp?

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