Negative Capability Press Poetry Blog

4

East of Mobile Bay

(revised 5/12/2008)

3

Honeysuckle drapes fences,
perfuming spring.
Giddy wild magnolia trees
lift creamy blossoms
for God and random birds to see.
Blackberries lurk, wielding thorns,
pricked fingers the price of a cobbler.
County roads grid
black-dirt farm land,
stitches on a quilt --
here a patch of cattle,
there a patch of sweet potatoes.
More patches --  tall-tasseled corn,
low-growing strawberries, glossy quarter horses,
emerald-leaved soybeans,
precisely-spaced pecan trees.

1

Flowing south, the Mobile River
spreads its fingers
spawning Tensaw, Apalache, Blakeley,
then webs of creeks -
Mudhole, Briar, Shipcanal,
Big Lizard, Maple Bayou.
Delta marshes harbor
pelicans, osprey,
‘gators, night herons,
kingfishers, secrets.
Two centuries ago
Creeks and settlers mixed their blood
then spilled it
on Fort Mims' barricaded ground
above the wetlands.
Two generations later
Blue fought Gray at Blakeley,
unaware Lee put down his sword
at Appomattox six hours before.
Commerce, bloodshed, pilgrims
emerge along the waterways.

1

Little cities dot the shore of Mobile Bay
and the white sand stretch of Gulf coast.
Rivers, Magnolia and Fish, wander inland
by communities sprung
from Germans, Swedes, Greeks,
Italians, pioneers from Iowa,
smitten Yankees coming back post-war.
Silverhill, Elberta, Magnolia Springs,
Josephine, Bon Secour
sustain vestiges of heritage
in libraries and churches.
Volunteers staff town museums
stocked with family heirlooms
and local artifacts.

Sausages, strawberries, crawfish,
shrimp, watermelon, mullet,
snapper, oysters, Silver Queen corn,
soft-shell crab - all honored somehow:
a day, a festival, a cook-off,
a contest (how far can you toss a mullet?)
Perdido's vineyard offers in its line
chardonnays and cabernets
and Baldwin County muscadine.
A family with Guernsey cows
on a dirt-road farm
makes natural cheeses in the European style
with southern Alabama names.
Second-generation candy-makers
in Point Clear pull taffy,
pour pralines, dip chocolate,
and put wicked pecans in divinity.
"Jubilee!" rings in the night
when crabs and flounder self-sacrifice
and crowd the Eastern Shore.