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ARIZONA IS A STATE OF MIND
Looking out the window, Iam reasonably certain this isnot Arizona and it is not justthe palm trees that suggest it. Well, in part it is the palm trees,although they have some there,but here it is the variety of palmsand the limited number of lizards. We have the occasional gecko,and the iguanas have begunto arrive, though…
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THE POND
Along the shoreof the pond wishingit was a lake,the anhinga proudlyshows off the small fishthat will be hismid-morning snack. The egret findsthis show of ostentationabhorrent and returnsto her searchfor bugs on the reedsfringing the shore. The alligator swimslazily off shorehoping we willsoon pass, andconsiders whetherhe wants only to sun,or if an anhinga wouldmake a good…
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IBIS SEEING YOU
They pausein their foraging in the lawnto peer up at us,strange looking interlopers,but they are used to us by nowand return to the task at hand. We no longer find them strangethough we never quiteget used to the curvedsalmon colored beaks,and we do wonderwhy the ancient Egyptians held them sacred. It seems that theyhave never forgiventheir Egyptian ancestorsfrom affixingtheir head to…
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INVASION
The light has fadedand the wetland lies underits mantle of faint starlight. The birds are there, wecan hear them, but our eyesdo not allow us to see them,despite our desire to havemore time with them. They can see us, in our well lit homes, staring out,but they do not want particularly to see us. To us they…
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AND CUT
It is a sad fact of life that Floridahas disqualified itself as a movie setfor a vast number of filmsthat will now go before the cameraon the streets of some Canadian city. No one is making films aboutdrug runners coming ashore inteal and pink with a soundtrackby Jan Hammer, since the illicitdrug of the moment…
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MOVING
When we tell friendsand acquaintances that weare moving up the coast,they look at us quizzically. We think they wonder whywe are leaving our friends,a world we have come to know,for a place so alien to us. We tell them that was by farthe hardest part, letting goof those we treasure, hopingthey will soon come to…
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NIGHT APPROACHES
The clouds this eveningare the deep gray that so longto be black, but the retreatedsun just below the horizonlingers long enough to deny them. The space, shrinking, betweenthe clouds, is the gray of promisethat the night will soon deny,and the birds who take overthe preserve, chant their vespers,each in his or her own language,uncommon tongues…
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ON THIS DAY
It is December, and in thispart of Florida that simply meansthat a morning jacket is advised,and rain comes as a bit of a surprise.A neighbour was surprised to be toldthat they decorated like a Northerner,but assumed that it was a bit of a dig,though they thought the inflatable snowmanand reindeer captured the season’s spirit.We laugh…
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ETA
So many of the late arrivals tonightare egrets, the Cattles long inamong the reeds and brush sharingspace, only reluctantly, with the ibis. It is their snowy cousins who arriveas the horizon is a fading bandof orange gold dissipating under thefaint, unyielding eye of Venus,and seem shocked when theyare turned away with flap of wingand cry,…
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HEART OF DHARMA
A single snowy egret sitson the lowest branch of a longbarren tree, where hours from nowa thousand birds will arrivefor still another evening and night. He stares at me as I am mindfullyvacuuming, watching carefully. I pause and ask if by chance heis a Buddha and he lifts his long neckand peers around in all…
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an old writer and his words 