Johnclarestokes
You could call it the bitter end
of the rope
the point beyond where the fire
fused the strands
the unraveled part that did not
go through the ring
In the taunt the line turns astern
in a vertical load the lift
as the sea claw is freed
then a straight yaw as the
drift begins
Into the beam sea they go with
memories of mooring
Above the laughing terns
mock the folly
In cabin crafts they ply on
in dead reckoning
Paying the price of anchors rejecting.
John Clare Stokes
My the splash you made upon the shore
Nearly drowning us in your under tow
Losing the glasses just bought from the store
Leaving us spinning in surf to and fro.
You were born for greater shores than these
We imagined you as a Tsunami wave
Raging to a boil from Oriental seas
Lifeguards frantic the many to save.
Instead you came gently to the shore
For not all waves are born to kill
A playful push to the ocean floor
Came so far just our joy to fill.
Thirty-six years hence we stand
And as a new wave roaring comes
We brace and clutch our glasses in hand
My how you splashed our gentle man.
Landon Randolph Stokes
August 25, 1988
Johnclarestokes
In the land before time of man
The dinosaurs roamed the land
Creatures larger than imagination
Primordial acts of Gods creation
Our little son rode his plastic dino
T Rex tamed by a young Lando
At night the stories were read
Of lands where giants tread
A wallpaper was finally found
Now the creatures did surround
Years passed and so the theme
Dino deflated with the dream
The dinosaurs were covered in brown
With deer and bears all around
Later, Danny and Gator glory
Then Tebow's inspiring story
Next came Kelly and the ocean blue
Surfboards galore of every hue
Finally to shades of modern gray
No hero found to guide the way
The little hawk with wings had flown
We paused to recall the Dino song
Yesterday, the gray border tore
Revealing faint tracks gone before
We chose not to repair the Dino print
The priceless uncovering of a lost moment
Ride Dino! Ride Dino! Happy song of the boy!
The layers of a life peeling back to reveal the joy!
Landon Randolph Stokes with his son Nathaniel Manoa
August 25, 1988
When Melanie and I were dating, we went to the Okeefenokee. I was too cheap to rent a boat and motor and she never let me forget it. After we were married, I wanted to make amends for my cheap ways. I made certain when we returned to Okeefenokee that we rented a boat!
Took first place at the
West Library in photography
Came into the Gallery
With her family
She told them there was a setting
On her camera
That makes things out of focus
But she didn’t know how to
Set it
And he who did not win
At the West Library
Said not a word to Mary.
Built in 1904
Moved to the Veterans Park in the mid 80's.
Though I see through a glass barely....I am learning to follow the light...yellow line upon the left...white line on the right...at a snails pace.
On 129
Nearing Santa Fe
Canon S100
One need not disdain photos fuzzy
The minds eye sees it sharply.
The old back porch steps leading to the kitchen addition of the old 1900 Towles house we once dwelt in at Crawfordville. When Louis Gavin the ex slave built the home for John and Lucille Towles, it was a four square, with a dog trot down the middle and two equally sized rooms on either side. Mrs Lucille lived in the home long after John passed on, herself going blind. In the halls and over the thresholds her cane paths were worn. The back room to the right, before the kitchen addition years later, was her kitchen, the tall tongue in grove narrow boards black with soot from her little wood burning stove. A miracle she never burned the home down.
The house fortunately still exists today in Sopchoppy, repurposed over the years next to the depot having several businesses occupy it. My two sons, Landon and Jordon, the Tallahassee Democrats my father read, the pickled pigs feet he ate.
