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ELIZABETH BISHOP - FLORIDA / (what sums up where you live?) Florida - By ELIZABETH BISHOP
The state with the prettiest name, the state that floats in brackish water, held together by mangrave roots that bear while living oysters in clusters, and when dead strew white swamps with skeletons, dotted as if bombarded, with green hummocks like ancient cannon-balls sprouting grass. The state full of long S-shaped birds, blue and white, and unseen hysterical birds who rush up the scale every time in a tantrum. Tanagers embarrassed by their flashiness, and pelicans whose delight it is to clown; who coast for fun on the strong tidal currents in and out among the mangrove islands and stand on the sand-bars drying their damp gold wings on sun-lit evenings. Enormous turtles, helpless and mild, die and leave their barnacled shells on the beaches, and their large white skulls with round eye-sockets twice the size of a man's. The palm trees clatter in the stiff breeze like the bills of the pelicans. The tropical rain comes down to freshen the tide-looped strings of fading shells: Job's Tear, the Chinese Alphabet, the scarce Junonia, parti-colored pectins and Ladies' Ears, arranged as on a gray rag of rotted calico, the buried Indian Princess's skirt; with these the monotonous, endless, sagging coast-line is delicately ornamented. Thirty or more buzzards are drifting down, down, down, over something they have spotted in the swamp, in circles like stirred-up flakes of sediment sinking through water. Smoke from woods-fires filters fine blue solvents. On stumps and dead trees the charring is like black velvet. The mosquitoes go hunting to the tune of their ferocious obbligatos. After dark, the fireflies map the heavens in the marsh until the moon rises. Cold white, not bright, the moonlight is coarse-meshed, and the careless, corrupt state is all black specks too far apart, and ugly whites; the poorest post-card of itself. After dark, the pools seem to have slipped away. The alligator, who has five distinct calls: friendliness, love, mating, war, and a warning-- whimpers and speaks in the throat of the Indian Princess. I love that poem. It's very conversational and doesn't attempt to even try and sound "pretty" in the conventional sense. It's almost like hearing your old aunt talk about her vacation home or something. But it describes Florida. Florida is a sun-kissed paradise that both reeks of swamp rot, yet permeates with orange blossoms and strawberries in spring. It's fucking lush . What paintings, movies, or poems, or other works of art sum up where you live?" | |
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"War vet in need of help...Will work for food" ~various people on street corners and off ramps | |
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HE'S COMING AGAIN | |
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Moderator | He basicly says it all. In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. |
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Amsterdam.
Picture by Jacob Olie | |
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HamsterHuey said: Amsterdam.
Picture by Jacob Olie It seems so quiet and peaceful. What makes it remind you of Amsterdam?? I always picture Amsterdam as being wild and sexually charged beautiful photo though. | |
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Fauxie said: | |
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Fauxie said: | |
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Imago said: HamsterHuey said: Amsterdam.
Picture by Jacob Olie It seems so quiet and peaceful. What makes it remind you of Amsterdam?? I always picture Amsterdam as being wild and sexually charged beautiful photo though. It's a late 19th century pic. A lot of current day Amsterdam was being built, hence the emptiness. It reminds me alot of Amsterdam in the early morning, when the flashlight wielding tourists are asleep and it is one of those moments where you have the city to yourself except for diehard drunks and cleansweeps. And even though parts of Amsterdam are wild and sexually charged, like Nick's ladies, it's not the only side of Amsterdam. I wanted to show a different picture than women in red lights and weed smoking tourists that think Amsterdam is heaven, but in reality, that is just a small part of it all. We Amsterdammers have our own hide-aways we do not tell foreigners about, so we can have some quiet and peace. Grin. | |
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HamsterHuey said: Imago said: It seems so quiet and peaceful. What makes it remind you of Amsterdam?? I always picture Amsterdam as being wild and sexually charged beautiful photo though. It's a late 19th century pic. A lot of current day Amsterdam was being built, hence the emptiness. It reminds me alot of Amsterdam in the early morning, when the flashlight wielding tourists are asleep and it is one of those moments where you have the city to yourself except for diehard drunks and cleansweeps. And even though parts of Amsterdam are wild and sexually charged, like Nick's ladies, it's not the only side of Amsterdam. I wanted to show a different picture than women in red lights and weed smoking tourists that think Amsterdam is heaven, but in reality, that is just a small part of it all. We Amsterdammers have our own hide-aways we do not tell foreigners about, so we can have some quiet and peace. Grin. Beautiful. I feel the same way about South Beach (I know there's no comparing Miami to Amsterdam but bare with me), before 1 PM. The streets are all quiet, and it's like having a little bit of paradise all to yourself, cause everyone is recovering from a long night of drinking, dancing, drugs, and sex. | |
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Ex-Moderator | I've made mix CDs of songs about Minneapolis. Of course, my favorites are always sad.
Kid Dakota Ten Thousand Lakes (lyrics are kinda cheesy, but it's a gorgeous, stark song) I'm in Minnesota again for the winter I'm in Minnesota again for the winter I didn't come for ice fishin', I didn't come for duck huntin' I'm not Scandinavian or in search of Paul Bunyan I came for the taper I came for the tapeworm well, I came to get better I'm in Minnesota again for the winter The thought of ten thousand lakes makes me feel smaller I didn't come for ice fishin', I didn't come for duck huntin' I'm not Scandinavian or in search of Paul Bunyan I'm no fan of the vikings or sub-zero windchills or drifts bigger than buildings or running on treadmills but I'm optimistic, but I'm off to Mystic cause I'm feelin lucky I'm in Minnesota again for the winter The thought of ten thousand lakes makes me feel smaller The thought of ten thousand lakes makes me feel... Well, it makes me feel weaker Williams Lucinda Minneapolis I've been waiting for you to come back Since you left Minneapolis Snow covers the streetlamps and the windowsills The buildings and the brittle crooked trees Dead leaves of December Thin skinned and splintered Never gotten used to this bitter winter I've been wasted, angry and sad Since you left Minneapolis I wish my thoughts were pure like the driven snow Like the heavens and the spring's virgin buds But they strangle me with their sin Fill me up with poison Black clouds have covered up the sun again I can always trace it back To that night in Minneapolis Here on the seventh floor in a room I can't call mine Deadbolt on the door, do not disturb sign Shaking and trembling On the clean white linen Slivers of starlight across the ceiling A dozen yellow roses All that's left in Minneapolis I wish I'd never seen your face or heard your voice You're a bad pain in my gut I wanna spit you out Open up this wound again Let my blood flow red and thin Into the glistening Into the whiteness Into the melting snow of Minneapolis Tom Waits Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis Lyrics hey Charley I'm pregnant and living on 9-th street right above a dirty bookstore off cuclid avenue and I stopped taking dope and I quit drinking whiskey and my old man plays the trombone and works out at the track. and he says that he loves me even though its not his baby and he says that he'll raise him up like he would his own son and he gave me a ring that was worn by his mother and he takes me out dancin every saturday nite. and hey Charley I think about you everytime I pass a fillin' station on account of all the grease you used to wear in your hair and I still have that record of little anthony & the imperials but someone stole my record player how do you like that? hey Charley I almost went crazy after mario got busted so I went back to omaha to live with my folks but everyone I used to know was either dead or in prison so I came back in minneapolis this time I think I'm gonna stay. hey Charley I think I'm happy for the first time since my accident and I wish I had all the money that we used to spend on dope I'd buy me a used car lot and I wouldn't sell any of em I'd just drive a different car every day dependin on how I feel. hey Charley for chrissakes do you want to know the truth of it? I don't have a husband he don't play the trombone and I need to borrow money to pay this lawyer and Charley, hey I'll be eligible for parole come valentines day. |
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smelly dairy cows | |
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I'll be nice after this but seriously:
the state that floats in brackish water
No land mass the size of Florida is floating and the sea is not "brackish" it's fullblown saltwater! I didn't read past that. You read some dumb poets. Studies have shown the ass crack of the average Prince fan to be abnormally large. This explains the ease and frequency of their panties bunching up in it. |
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Mars23 said: I'll be nice after this but seriously:
the state that floats in brackish water
No land mass the size of Florida is floating and the sea is not "brackish" it's fullblown saltwater! I didn't read past that. You read some dumb poets. | |
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Mars23 said: I'll be nice after this but seriously:
the state that floats in brackish water
No land mass the size of Florida is floating and the sea is not "brackish" it's fullblown saltwater! I didn't read past that. You read some dumb poets. | |
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. [Edited 8/14/08 23:24pm] | |
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Mars23 said: I'll be nice after this but seriously:
the state that floats in brackish water
No land mass the size of Florida is floating and the sea is not "brackish" it's fullblown saltwater! I didn't read past that. You read some dumb poets. | |
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I think where I live is best summed up by the fact that a famous abortion clinic bomber escaped from our county jail through the ceiling vents and a girl I went to high school with drowned her 3 kids in the lake.
We're very proud whenever the national news outlets come to town. | |
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