Letter to the Editor / APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
By J. M. VARELA – CONCH POET
Sometimes you read a comment in the other newspaper that prints anonymous comments that are so incorrect and just plain stupid that you have to reply.
This reply is directed to anyone who thinks that all of our large canopy shade trees were brought here from “up north” and that the only hurricane safe trees are palms.
Perhaps it is time for our urban forrester to write an article about all of our wonderful indiginous trees to set the record straight.
STRIPPED BARE & POLISHED
Sunlight bounces off their twisted trunks
making them shine like polished
pieces of expensive silverware.
My favorite Caribbean trees,
nicknamed the “tourist tree”
because their bark is red and peels
like sunburned island visitors.
They stood bold faced and naked
against mother nature’s fury.
Held strong by roots
wrapped around coral rock.
Stripped bare and polished
by the windswept sands
of the hurricane.
Now, light shines through
the empty spaces
where many trees once stood
Revealing the under belly
of the Florida Keys.
The stuff of people’s lives
stacked high and rotting
along the highway,
boats, refrigerators, furniture and such.
What was secret and hidden
from the highway’s eyes
behind a gentle green curtain
of vines, leaves and
vibrant orange red blossoms,
is covered with rancid silt and mud.
Light, glorious sunlight
where there was the
raging storm and surging ocean.
Bakes the land
till it cracks and begs for rain.
Rain to nourish the
stripped bare and polished
Gumbo Limbos of Matecumbe.
(9/17/17 Coming home after the storm.)
J.M. VARELA – CONCH POET
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