Florida

Black people fishing the causeway 
full-skirted   bare brown to the bellyband 
atilt on the railing   near a concrete road 
where a crawler-transporter will move 
the space shuttle from hangar to gantry.

Renting a biplane to stalk the full moon in Aquarius
as she rose under Venus between propellers Country Western surf 
feasting on frozen black beans Cubano from Grand Union
in the mangrove swamp   elbows of cypress   scrub oak

Moon  moon  moon on the syncopated road
rimey with bullfrogs   walking beaches   fragrant and raunchy 
fire-damp sand between my toes.

Huge arrogant cockroaches with white people's manners 
and their palmetto bug cousins 
aggressive ridged slowness
the obstinacy of living fossils.

Sweet ugly-fruit  avocados  tomatoes
and melon in the mango slot
hibiscus spread like a rainbow of lovers 
arced stamens waving
but even the jacaranda only last a day.

Crescent moon walking my sheets at midnight 
lonely in the palmetto thicket   counting 
persistent Canaveral lizards launch themselves 
through my air conditioner
chasing equally determined fleas.

In Gainesville the last time there was only one 
sister present who said   "I'm gonna remember your name 
and the next time you come there'll be 
quite a few more of us, hear?" 
and there certainly was   a warm pool
of dark women's faces 
in the sea of listening.

The first thing I did when I got home 
after kissing my honey
was to wash my hair with small flowers 
and begin a five-day fast.