My Father's Poems: December 18, 2022

Daily Diary, Day 838:

My mother and father started going to Florida for part of the year in the 1970s, eventually living there full time. This is where my Dad joined a Poetry Group and really started writing full time. After my mother died, he remarried, and Ruth, my step-mother, was a poet in her own right. They continued to live at least part of the year in Florida. Needless-to-say, a lot of his poems deal with this state and its climate. As many of you are now facing cold weather, I thought this poem about a warm and sunny climate might come in handy!

eco system

in
time and space

i'm states away from
the nurturing fields of
youth and friends

baking
like a ripening gourd
in these days of winter gold

in the high sun digs
and warms the cotton of my shirt

my joyous pores beneath
foment
a mist of salty beads
that wed the gentle winds
and fly
into the space and wet
of everglade

--Joseph Locke