The dancing lilies

 The dancing lilies

In the early chill of the mornings new light

The lilies danced with delight

An inner voice lifted in the breeze

Then replied, yes, your mother sees.

The slow children

 The slow children end their play

Newberry Elementary

When I was a child

I spake as a child

When I was a child

I thought as a child

Wild and unbridled 

When I became a man

They said, lay aside your

Childish ways

Think as a man

Speak as a man

Bland and bridled

But I was slow

I refused to the classroom

To go

Speaking from a

Grown child's 

Point of view....

New town train

 The New Town train

Newberry Elementary

The New Town train came

To take the now tame

To the fields afar

From the confines

Of the blue zoo

One by one

They let them go

But by the next morning

They were yearning

For the blue zoo

Captured again so easily

Boarding sleepy

And docile.

The towering

 The towering road 

Gainesville NW 43rd

Above the towering road

Line upon line

With not a note at all

To hold the sky in

Sound 

Just the steady humming

Coming from 

Crystal River

The giver of our

Note less lines.

The palms embrace

 The palms embrace

The palms embrace

With clouds caress

This meeting of frond and

Wind

The beginning of the

Courting.

Dogwood baying

 Dogwood baying

Travel up the Dogwood trail

Past the mossy field

Into the sparse thin air

Beyond last light

To the treed moon

Fleeing from capture.

The blues

 Just cause you got the blues don’t mean you got to look blue.

What hast thou done?

 What hast thou done?

Johnclarestokes 

And I heard the voice 

of my brothers blood

crying from the ground.

And I heard the voice of

the trampling down.

And I heard the voice of

silence all around

And I heard the voice of

no patriot to be found.

And I heard the voice of

Olustee’s men of renown 

And they whispered,,

What hast thou done?

You’ll die

 You’ll die

Johnclarestokes 

When around the age of five

Nose picking was all the rage

Mamma tried everything to get

me to act my age

But nothing worked on the

little toe head.

Finally at her wits end

she took me to see Dr Head

the only doctor in Wakulla county 

To see if he could cure me.

He sat me down and in a serious tone

said, “you’ll die if you pick your nose.”

At first I feared, for I remembered Mrs Mary

lying in her bedroom, hands cross in the wake

and surely the Lord my soul I didn’t 

Want Him to take.

But then, my little high IQ kicked in

and I concluded this could not possibly be

maybe if I stared into the sun or peed into

the electric heater, but not from nose picking.

and so I left him satisfied I was cured.

And as far as mamma knew I was,

I made sure I only picked in secret 

Content on the banks of the Sopchoppy

Just me and a nose full of boogers 

and just a slight bit of conscience 

telling me, I sure hope Dr Head is

not proven to not be practicing quackery.

Guardian Mama

 Guardian mamma

John Clare Stokes 

She was lately into memory

things such as the beginning years

of hopscotch, books and butterflies

sharp and clear with mamma near 

all was well as long as she dreamed

but in the realm she found herself in

she had to shuffle down the hallway

three times daily painfully

to the strangers being served 

non homemade by mamma food

and even before she could open 

the unfamiliar door

her guardian mamma would gently say,

“now dear, aren’t we forgetting 

something?”

and she’d thank mamma and 

together they’d set out 

for the dining room.

First race

 The first race

Third grade, Monticello elementary, I was the new kid recently moved from Sopchoppy. Making friends was challenging for this shy blond. Recess was a tough time trying to find a group to fit in with. Often I would skip and remain in class drawing with Wayne Lassiter from Lamont. Then one day at PE the coach said on field day there would be a third grade wide foot race.

I had never ran a race, especially not one with all three third grade classes combined. It was assumed from all, that last years second grade winner, Jimmy Haynes, would repeat. The day came and all the girls and boys spread out along the PE room wall. On the whistle we were to run downhill to the fence by the road, touch it and return. The whistle blew and the grass was chewed as we made our way down. I kept my eye on Jimmy and watched as he was first to touch the fence. I trailed near and at about the half way back point, he faded, perhaps starting too fast, and I picked up speed, the first to touch the wall. Fastest third grader. From then on it wasn't difficult to find friends at recess. Everyone wanted me in their group, on their team. Yet despite the fame, I still preferred to draw motorcycles and airplanes with Wayne.

Paris In Lake City

 I had look a long time in my photos for this shot. I took it on a Saturday when I was working at the Gateway Galley downtown.