THINK OF THE GIGANTIC GLADES NEAR THE END OF LAND mama alligator floats babies on her back An itchy black bear takes a palm tree scratch leaving soft fur tufts that swamp mice fetch Seminole women trailing patchwork skirts reach across chickee floors They loosen sleep hammocks swung from cypress poles Cloth smiles unfurl and start to sway as a frog chorus swells with night hiccups A mother settles children to sleep with a sing song Memory ago learned in the language of long
