I sat outside the café on a fresh, spring morning in St. Petersburg, Florida. My iced coffee had condensation pooling at the base of its plastic cup. The air was warm, but a breeze brushed my arms and beneath the wispy hair on the nape of my neck. With me was my journal, a pen,…
Whether you write short stories, poetry, memoir, young adult, fantasy, or work on your journal, finding a community to settle into as a writer can be difficult. When I first moved to the Tampa Bay area, it took me some time to get accustomed to the local scene. I spent hours attending author events, art…
By John C. Carter Farmhouse on a Dirt Road Her ears, hearing him yell her name again as she stands there, half-way between the house and the car. His voice, hurling obscenities, making even the dogs hide. Her hand— not as convinced as his had been— falters in its reach for the gate. The chair…
Kenwood Resident (St Pete) Michael SingletonPublishes Childrens Poetry Book POETRY PARTY: A Children’s Poetry Book with Developmental and Optimistic Life Lessonsby Michael Singleton Step into a colorful world of inspiring tales where animals, children, and even shoes discover the beauty of being unique. In this heartwarming collection of rhythmic stories and poems, young readers will…
Poem to Another Poem This poem reads itself by the light of itself.Speaks of itself in the fifth person. Believesin me more than the devil does in evil.There will be no generic blessing. Rightnow this poem is powdered concentrate,translated from a 100-foot echo. I ama conduit for your coincidence. You areuncanny and resist the tourniquet…
I’ve been crate digging again, not for records, not for books, not for green turtle steaks but for a graveyard plant, the ephemeral flow of lush lore. Florida in words, images of Florida, praise songs for Florida. So, hats off to the local records stores that also sell books and the books stores that also…
I live my signifying, unrhymed, in St. Petersburg, but I am writing this scrambled treatise in Tallahassee, the tall hassle of paradise, the state capitol of Florida, the Sunshine State. I’ve come to escape the wind and water. Milton, the most literary hurricane to date. I am aware of the irony, but I leave it…
Ambition My ambition is to work the words “Christ on a bike!” into a poem. But no doubt I will end up accomplishing nothing much more than managing to eke out a modicum of wonder as I sit at sunset and spot just the right amount of wantonly accumulated cumulus to catch a bit of…
I’ve set my heart on a glimpse of you: Florida Golden Aster (Chrysopsis floridana) — listed as endangered in 1986 You are so rare I can’t find you. It’s spring and your woozy stem has yet to arise from the Florida scrub and blunt sun. Once it shoots up, your whiskery leaves will climb it all…