Feb 24 - Final Friday of my residency

aquashoes, beach bag and no, kitty-who-bites, you can't come with

non-native pines at beach

pine canopy not at all like the northern pines I know

what this island is made of: coral
what it looks like: bone
alternate name for Key West: Bone Island

this mile marker has no markers on the back when looking at it from the beach
is that because once you reach the beach there is nowhere you'd rather be?

cruise ship over there

Went to Fort Zachary State Park this morning. Finally had a swim. I was surprised at how big the waves were and how hard I had to swim to go in one direction while it was effortless to travel in the other. I thought of all the "survival at sea" books I have read and how all those stories tell of folks being carried out to sea, or having to fight so hard to get to shore. I have a bit more of an idea what they were talking about. I mentioned this to the people I was with, and one of them said "Yes, we have a lot of surf today. It's very unusual," and I realized, I have never swum where there was "surf". Waves, yes. Surf? No.

came home to see the number 6 on the ground
heat had melted the glue right off of it
no wonder I feel like I got too much sun

After I settled down and cooled off fom the beach in the morning, I got an invite to go to a poetry reading in the evening. Leonel Valle and Deborah Linker were going to be reading poems of the Keys and I was excited to go. I am trying to cram as much of the Keys in me now as I can.

tonight's special event

Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge

Deborah Linker and Leonel Valle
I was thrilled to hear Leonel recite Florida Keys for me, in English and in Spanish.
I discovered it during my after-exhibit melancholia.
It just feels like the Keys to me and I know I will be re-reading it often when I am back home.

And I am still thinking about Deborah's poem, Slack Tide. Loved the idea of a slack tide when the tide goes neither in, nor out. It is a curious state for water, and others, to be in.